Connor McDavid is a hair away from being branded the worst greatest player in hockey history because, fans being raging nitwits on things like this, that's how it works in the legacy game. "You're only as good as the last thing I remember,” is the creed, “and I drink during games."
Nevertheless, them's the rules, Pookie, and right now McDavid, the best player of his generation, is a game away from being ushered out of the postseason by the weird but plucky Anaheim Ducks, because of this:
Ryan Poehling, a perfectly acceptable but deeply itinerant bottom-six center, put the puck into Edmonton goalie Tristan Jarry's pads, and it almost certainly trickled over the line just far enough to end an overtime game that had barely begun (always a travesty) and put the Ducks, the least-winningest team still in the postseason, a mere 60 minutes of more dumb luck away from eliminating the Oilers in the first round after two consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances.
And that means, of course, that McDavid, an 11-year veteran while still only 29 years old, gets to spend another year having his legacy besmirched because he does not have his name on the Cup. He is not the reason the Ducks are up three games to one; a reasonable person can look at the 20 goals the Oilers have allowed in the first four games and draw the painfully obvious conclusions. But he is McDavid, a.k.a. McJesus, and he is losing to the Ducks even though they finished third in the horrific Pacific, a division that also includes the Oilers.
Indeed, McDavid has now played an even 100 playoff games in his career, which while not an eye-opening figure given the four-hundred some-odd players who have played more, his 45 goals and 154 points in those hundred games is impressive as it gets. More to the point, though, Sunday was the third game in the four in which McDavid has not scored a goal, and in two of them he has been completely pointless. That's not helpful for the brand as determined by the people doing the branding.
Thus the overarching perception—that Edmonton's window could have already closed one step short of the parade and McDavid may never get his ring—comes with sub-perceptions, like "if he doesn't score, they suck." He did not score in Game 1, the 4-3 win, which was the first time all year he had gone pointless in an Edmonton victory, and the one game in which he did score, the Oilers lost, 7-4.
Mostly, though, he is guilty for being the most recognizable player on a team that came close a couple of times, including two years ago when they fell behind 3-0 to Florida in the Final and forced Game 7. The Panthers aren't in this year's tournament at all, so the Oilers have them there, but losing in the first round to the Anaheim Bleeping Ducks (copyright pending) was never the idea here. Hockey is used to dynasties, even the mini- kind. Since Wayne Gretzky stopped playing and became a credit card ad prop, nine teams have been to multiple Cup finals in brief periods of time, and these Oilers are the only ones not to cash in once, so the panic and associated overreactions are particularly pointed this time.
Making it worse for McDavid is that he is the Oiler who everyone knows is most qualified to turn a game or a series on his head (honorable mention: Leon Draisaitl), and that need is particularly acute now. A McDavid-level impact game is clearly called for, as even disallowing last night's hair’s-breadth goal does not automatically imply that the Oilers would have eventually won. More to the point, he cannot, however, cure what seems to ail Jarry, a nightmare since coming from Pittsburgh in a trade, or Connor Ingram, whose save percentage in the first three games was .849, prompting Jarry's start in Game 4.
But nobody's worried about Tristan Jarry's legacy. Desperation demands big names and big games, and that is how Connor McDavid's Spring 2026 is lining up. Does this align with how the Oilers are playing in this series? No. Is this a reflection of his career? Certainly not. Is it fair? We let fans decide things like this, so clearly not. But these are the conditions that prevail, and if it means that Ryan Poehling has a bigger goal than McDavid in this series, even if it came by the width of a skate blade, well, fair's for saps. It's a lesson for us all.
