GENE'S BLOG: Make His Point(s)

TAMPA, FL -- Stopping Connor McDavid isn't easy. In fact, sometimes it's impossible. Getting him started on the ice is fluid, smooth and explosive but getting him started, when it comes to talking about himself, isn't anything like that. He does it because he has too. Everyone wants to know about Connor or what Connor thinks about Connor. Expect it to be like that from now until the end of his career and likely beyond. For now what everyone wants to discuss is the scoring race.

"Definitely something that even if I don't want to talk about it," explained McDavid. "You almost have to. My buddies are texting me and the media always asks about it."
Alright, guilty as charged. I can't help myself. I admit it. It is a team game and that's where it's a little easier to get Connor to discuss himself if you also incorporate his teammates.
"The scoring race doesn't really change anything for me," said the 21-year-old. "I play within the team system. It's important to do things right. If we get points and I also get points then that's fine."
It shows you why he is a generational thinking and playing talent.
"I want the team to win first," explained Todd McLellan. "And Connor to have individual success. Ask Connor (which I already had) and he wants the team to succeed (which he already said) and at the same time push for the scoring title."
McLellan also picked up on an example of that Saturday against Florida." Look at the end of the game," said the coach. "The net is empty and he has the puck. Connor shared the puck with Ty Rattie. If he wasn't about the team first, Connor would have kept the puck with the net empty. Instead, he passed it off."

The race to first in points by a player this season isn't like the one we witnessed in 2016-17. Connor cranked out 100 points. He finished 11 points up on both Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby to win his first Art Ross Trophy.
"This one has been way different," said McDavid. "I'm not leading and then trying to add points to pull away. Instead, I'm the one doing the chasing." The player everyone is chasing is Tampa's Nikita Kucherov. The pair entered Sunday's game two points apart. By the time it was over the Lightning forward doubled his lead to four. A challenge but not an insurmountable one. Remember Feb. 5th. Connor had 5 points Nikita had none. A 10-point lead was cut in half in 60 minutes of hockey.
"I've thought about it (the scoring race) but it's not the most important thing," explained the reigning champ.
In fact, he's been thinking about it for years but not as a player. Instead, simply as a fan of the game.
"I wouldn't say since I was a kid but it started when I was a teenager," explained the former OHL scoring champ. "About the time I was playing junior I was itching to see who was leading the NHL scoring race."
Imagine what it felt like to be the one doing that last season. It was a special time for the entire Oilers organization.
"I've been around a lot of players who have been high scorers," said Connor's coach. "Joe Thornton, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg but they were older. Connor's a young star and he's pushing for another title."
The push is definitely on. You can see it from the youngest captain in NHL history and he has 10 more games to make his point(s).