November 12, 2021 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid should undoubtedly draw the most penalties in the NHL. Unfortunately, he’s nowhere near the top of that list. Officials have been ignoring blatant calls on McDavid throughout his career and Thursday night was another prime example.

Following the Oilers’ 5-3 road win against the Boston Bruins, Head Coach Dave Tippett was asked if the thought there were some missed calls on McDavid. “You think?,” Tippett quipped. “Did you see that up there, too? I saw that on the bench, just didn’t know if anyone else saw it.”

The Oilers currently sit 24th in the league in power-play opportunities. Including the 2021 playoffs, McDavid went ten full games without drawing a penalty. He drew his first penalty in his seventh game of this season. He ranks 135th in the NHL in drawn penalties per Daily Faceoff.

That’s mystifying considering that he’s second in the league in scoring. According to Natural Stat Trick, his Corsi For % so far this season is 62.9% and his Goals For % is 69.77%. The guy has the puck on his stick a lot. He’s easily the fastest player on the planet with the puck on his stick, and he’s certainly one of the fastest, if not the fastest without it as well. He’s the most skilled player in the world. 

There are a lot of situations where defenders have no choice but to cheat to stop McDavid, and they get away with it far too often. Oilers fans see it night after night. It’s frustrating from a fan’s perspective, and it has to be beyond frustrating for McDavid because there’s a different set of rules when it comes to defending him.

McDavid has expressed his frustration about the treatment he gets from the refs on a couple of occasions. During last night’s ESPN broadcast of the Oilers vs Bruins game, John Tortorella commented on McDavid and what it’s going to take for the Oilers to win a Stanley Cup. He had this to say in regards to McDavid expressing his frustration about missed calls:

“Just shut up,” said Tortorella. “You have to have that business-type attitude of ‘nothing’s going to bother me, no matter how you’re going to check me.’ Don’t talk about it. Just play hard and play through it.” 

This is rich coming from Torts, who’s famous for being a hot head and not mincing words. If there’s anyone that needs to shut up here, it’s him.

I understand not yelling at the referee right after a call is made. I’ve never seen a referee change their mind after making a call, no matter how terrible it was. Nobody is ever going to get a referee to reverse a call during a game.

However, being critical of a chronic issue is another conversation. This mindset is one of the NHL’s biggest problems. The NHL and it’s coaches want players to keep their mouths shut. Don’t stir the pot. Just let it happen. Be professional, be business-like, brush it off, and move on.

They want to pretend that everything is all rainbows and unicorns all the time. That’s not life. Players are human beings, and so are referees and the people that run the NHL. People make mistakes, and it should be okay to call them out when they’re made.

The NHL comes down with an iron fist if anyone utters a negative word about the league or it’s referees. The league and it’s referees are not to be criticized. Heaven forbid they look bad.

You know what makes referees look bad? The way that they constantly miss calls on McDavid. It’s not just McDavid. Zach Hyman got away with a boarding penalty in last night’s game as well. Officiating is a big issue all over the league.

You know what makes the league look bad? Handing out fines to anyone that utters a critical word about the league or referees. The actions being criticized and the fines make them look far worse than any comment that a player or coach could make about them.

If the league really wants to increase its popularity, then it ought to consider allowing players and coaches to speak their minds and embracing controversy over trivial things like officiating.

Tortorella also commented about McDavid needing to change his game if the Oilers want to win a Stanley Cup. “I do think he has to change his game a bit… You’re not going to just fill the net during playoffs and outscore teams. You have to play on the other side of the puck” he said.

First of all, that was a stupid way to phrase that idea. Outscoring teams is literally the way you win hockey games! Also, Nikita Kucherov had 1.36 and 1.39 points per game in Tampa Bay’s Stanley Cup runs in the last two seasons, so it’s possible to fill the net in the playoffs.

Secondly, this is lazy analysis by Torts. He talked about how he never thought that Alex Ovechkin would win a Cup in Washington, but then he changed his game and they won a Cup.

I’m sure the Capitals winning a Stanley Cup had nothing to do with Evgeny Kuznetsov leading the team in scoring with 32 points in 24 games that spring. I’m sure it had nothing to do with John Carlson’s offensive contributions from the blueline, or Braden Holltby’s strong goaltending. I’m sure it had nothing to do with Barry Trotz’s coaching. It was clearly all Ovechkin and his new-found defensive prowess.

It takes more than just one player to win a Stanley Cup. It’s lazy analysis to think that the Oilers will win a Stanley Cup once McDavid gets better defensively. That will help, but depth scoring, better defending, and better goaltending will help too.

McDavid and Draisaitl were both -2 against the Jets last year, but they both went -2 in game one. One game isn’t indicative of a major issue. They were even for the rest of the series, which consisted of three overtime losses. That series could’ve easily gone the other way.

Those are brutal takes from Tortorella. Just shut up, John.