As a general rule, hockey players prefer to not look too far into the future.
It’s usually about focusing on the next game.
For Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, though, a peer into what awaits February can’t be helped.
That would be the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off, when Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland will clash in Montreal and Boston Feb. 12-20.
“Really excited about it,” McDavid said on Saturday. “It’s no secret that I’ve been vocal in terms of wanting best-on-best hockey.
“While this isn’t going to be the Olympics or have all the great hockey playing countries, it’ll still be a nice sample of what’s to come (with the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy).
“There’s a lot of buzz about it. Four great countries, all four teams will be really good, really deep. It will be anybody’s tournament.”
The chance to play alongside Pittsburgh Penguins great Sidney Crosby, among others, gets McDavid’s competitive juices flowing.
“Not only him, but the number of great Canadian players — Nate (Nathan MacKinnon), Cale (Makar) — the list goes on and on,” McDavid said. “It will be a fun team to be a part of and I’m really looking forward to it.”
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McDavid’s international experience runs deep. He has helped Canada win gold at the world championship (2016), world junior (2015) and world under-18 (2013).
The world junior title, it’s a little hard to believe, will be 10 years in the past this Christmas. In 2015, Canada won gold in Toronto at what was then called the Air Canada Centre, now Scotiabank Arena.
Many of the players on the Canada roster, including McDavid, Brayden Point, Sam Reinhart, Shea Theodore and Josh Morrissey, have gone on to prolific careers in the National Hockey League.
“That was a fun team to be a part of,” McDavid said. “A lot of great players on that team, and I think you’ll see some of them on the team in February as well. Going to come full circle for a lot of guys. It was special to win the gold medal here, the crowd was great. Playing in Montreal as well was great. It was a dream come true.”
For the time being, of course, McDavid will continue to go about his business, which has become a habitual domination of the NHL. He had nine points in his previous three games before the Maple Leafs and Oilers met on Saturday night.
When the Oilers arrived in Toronto, they still were revelling in McDavid’s 1,000th NHL point, which came on Thursday against Nashville. McDavid was the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to reach the milestone, accomplishing it in his 659th game.
“What a milestone achievement,” former Leafs winger Zach Hyman said. “It was cool for him to do it on home ice, with all of our fans there and the whole team able to celebrate him, and to get a win in that game. It was a great moment, one of many for him and one that’s pretty hard to do. He did it pretty quick.”
McDavid appeared to be over it when he was asked about his past 48 hours.
“It’s been just trying to get to Toronto,” the Richmond Hill native said. “It was a quick turnaround. On the plane early (on Friday), trying to beat all the Taylor Swift traffic. We managed to do it. It’s cool to see the city.”