It turns out, there was plenty of cheering going on inside the Oilers dressing room, as well.
And it led to a bit of a preemptive text being sent by forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the young McDavid, to welcome him to the team long before any of the Oilers' brass had a chance to do so.
"He was one of the first people ever to reach out, I think it was only a couple days after the draft lottery he had sent me a text," McDavid said while sharing the podium with Nugent-Hopkins, a fellow No. 1 draft pick by the Oilers in 2011. "I thought he was pulling my leg, or something. I didn't believe it at first."
Nugent-Hopkins is the longest-tenured member of the team (14 seasons), while McDavid is in his 10th season.
"I was confident we were taking you," Nugent-Hopkins said with a laugh. "It was definitely pretty wild. I think, like everybody in Edmonton, we were pretty excited, to say the least, when that happened.
"Obviously, we didn't really expect [the first-overall pick] and think it was going to happen, so I might have jumped the gun a little bit early on the text, but we were pretty confident. But definitely a cool moment for the team and the city itself, too."
Fast-forward a decade, and the two find themselves playing in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row.
"It definitely means a lot. We've played 10 years together, been teammates together," McDavid said. "It's great being his teammate. It's the time of year where the family room becomes a really fun place. A place where you get to see where everyone's kind of come from; parents, siblings, friends. You name it."
The Oilers lost to the Panthers in seven games in the 2024 Cup Final with McDavid becoming the sixth player from the losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoffs MVP. He had 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists) in 25 games to lead all scorers and leads the playoffs again this season with 28 points (six goals, 22 assists) in 17 games.
"People are coming from far and wide to watch these games and support us."
