I wonder if Connor McDavid is watching The Last Dance?

With more than two months behind us since the NHL played its last games, the list of real things to talk about is limited and that’s left me with a lot of time to think about nonsense. One such thought revolved around the idea of Connor McDavid watching The Last Dance on Netflix and what he must think when he sees Michael Jordan doing his thing.

Alright, so before we get started here I’m going to get this out of the way and readily admit that this is a speculatively stupid article — I already know that — but I was watching Michael Jordan talk about the cost of winning even if it made some people uncomfortable and it got me thinking about Connor McDavid. In the clip shown above, you’ll see Jordan get asked about whether or not his dedication to winning came at the expense of being considered a nice guy and his answer kinda stuck with me. To paraphrase, he readily admitted that sometimes he had to push guys when they didn’t want to be pushed and pulled them along when he didn’t want to be pulled because that was the cost of being a leader and a champion. That was what he needed to do to achieve his goals of being the best and that’s the only way it was going to go. It was his way or the highway.

Around these parts, we all know that Connor McDavid is the most talented player on this hockey team (Leon can certainly be his Scottie Pippen in this scenario) but I wonder what’s running through his mind as he watches one of the most dominant athletes to ever play, at times, forcibly dragging his teammates forward even if that meant coming off like the bad guy? I’m not talking about punching teammates or anything like that, but rather using his voice more even when it’s uncomfortable. From everything we’ve ever heard about Connor McDavid, he’s always been more of a lead by example kind of guy, but I still can’t help but wonder if there’s any part of him that wants to be more assertive with those around him as a means of reaching the end goal of winning a Stanley Cup. I mean, there’s no doubt in my mind that Connor McDavid wants to win but where are his limits? Anybody that’s watched Whatever It Takes knows exactly how hard he’s willing to work to be the best, but I’m also thinking that maybe he could use a little more Jordan in him as well to go along with the countless hours of practice.

Listen, if there is any player on the Edmonton Oilers roster that has earned the leash required to be able to bust his teammates’ balls in order to get them on the same program it has to be Connor McDavid. At only 23 years old, he’s already proven that he can be the single most electrifying player in the National Hockey League and that desire for greatness has to spill over into the way he deals with his teammates eventually, right? And I’m not saying he has to be a dick to the point of punching his teammates just as Jordan was, nor am I suggesting that he start gambling on who can throw a quarter closest to the wall, but I do wonder how far into his career he will get before the competitive fire that drove him to be the player he is starts to come out more aggressively. It could happen, right? Then again, maybe the change in times and overall attitudes towards bullying would suggest that tactics like Jordan’s wouldn’t or shouldn’t ever happen again? Maybe that kind of unrelenting pressure to succeed wouldn’t fly anymore? Or, more simply and likely, maybe that’s just not how Connor McDavid rolls, ya know?

For some, the Jordan documentary has kicked off some controversy regarding how he treated his teammates and opponents under the shield of doing whatever it took to win. Writer for The Nation, Dave Zarin, addressed those concerns in a recent column:

When I posed the hypothetical question on Twitter about what Connor must be thinking if he’s watching this series, some of the responses sent my way suggested that we’d all be okay with McDavid dictating how things go with the Oilers if it meant that he’d be able to bring the Cup back to Edmonton. For others, like Zarin, it’s hard to overlook how big of a dick Jordan was to those around him because running with the “it’s the cost of winning mentality” isn’t an acceptable excuse for the way he treated people. So where’s the line? I have no idea. I’m just thinking out and wondering what it must be like for a generational player from a completely different sport like Connor McDavid to watch the process for one of the best athletes to ever play a professional sport. Again, I don’t know anything about what Connor McDavid is like as a person outside of what he says publically so all of this is really just pointless guesswork that I thought might make for an interesting conversation. We know what McDavid thinks about Carol Baskin, but I’m dying to know what he thinks about these weekly looks at Jordan?

Michael Jordan was 28 years old when he won his first championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1991, six seasons after making his NBA debut in 1984. For anyone that’s been watching The Last Dance so far, you really get an idea of how much those early losses in the first handful of seasons drove Jordan to get better, and maybe that’s what will happen with Connor McDavid regardless of his situation and sport being entirely different. McDavid has seen some weird management issues in his time here just as Jordan had in Chicago. Again, the situations are vastly different but maybe the adversity he’s battled so far in Edmonton will angrily drive him forward without feeling the need to engage his teammates in mental warfare during games and in practice? Maybe hockey is just too different from basketball in that one or two-star players on the roster will never be enough regardless of how determined they are to win and comparing inter-league generational talents doesn’t make sense anyway? I don’t know, I’m just having a conversation.

In closing, I couldn’t help but wonder what 97 must be thinking if he’s watching The Last Dance and it made me want to know what you folks think about it, and whether or not a guy like Jordan went too far in an effort to win? Can you argue with six rings? What would you think if it came out that Connor McDavid was acting similarly as a way of “battle testing” his teammates for the difficult moments that would surely come up as a part of a deep playoff run? His way or the highway?

With nothing else going on, it’s kinda fun to think about.