Connor McDavid injury a huge setback for Edmonton Oilers

McDavid could play against Crosby in next September’s World Cup of Hockey, with Crosby expected to play for Team Canada and McDavid for Team North America. McDavid hasn’t been just any first overall pick though. He hasn’t played yet this season. He may have hit a rut in the ice; whatever happened, he was turned around awkwardly as he and the defencemen piled into the end-boards. It’s a bad one.

It sucked the life out of Rexall Place and took a lot of the shine of a comeback victory that upped their record to 5-8. Right in the old solar plexus.

The injury hurts more because it robs the league of seeing just how many points McDavid might have scored this season. It happened when McDavid attempted to stick-handle through a pair of defenders (Brandon Manning and Michael Del Zotto). “Today feels like a loss”, said Chiarelli.

“(It was a) hockey play”, Oilers coach Todd McLellan said.

“I knew (McDavid was injured) as soon as he went into the boards”, Wayne Gretzky told ESPN on Wednesday.

And something bad has. “I’ve been to a few Canucks games and there’s something about playing in Vancouver, it has a special feel”.

Gretzky was like that.

It’s a awful situation for McDavid, who has been an incredible force on the ice already at 18 with five goals and seven assists in his first 12 games.

As news of Connor McDavid’s broken collarbone filtered through the NHL, players across the league lamented the injury, including the superstar most commonly compared to the Edmonton Oilers’ phenom. He finished the season with 31 points in 48 games and looked to be what they hoped they drafted.

McDavid has been as good as advertised in the first month of his pro career. “It’s the players, it’s not Bob Hartley at all, and they have a good general manager”, said Hillis.

The Oilers won’t be that lucky. The Oilers were swarming the net, as they had done for most of the game. He’d been centring a line with Nail Yakupov and Benoit Pouliot.

“These are tough injuries. He’s a strong kid mentally and physically, he’s still developing so he’ll come back probably even stronger”.