‘Should be Sid’: McDavid endorses Crosby as Canada’s captain

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Connor McDavid treated the question like it was dumb-dumb stuff, like an empty net shot, middle of the ice from 15 feet out, goalie pulled, nobody chasing him.

So who should have the C on his chest for Canada at the first-ever NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament with USA, Sweden and Finland next February?

“Should be Sid. Should be Sid, for sure. Not even a question,” said the Edmonton Oilers captain, who will be seeing the Pittsburgh Penguins captain Crosby for the 14th NHL time Friday night at Rogers Place but has never played on the same international team.

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Crosby, one of the last guys off the ice at a Thursday-afternoon practice, smiled as he was told that McDavid was up for the role as his campaign manager.

“I appreciate that (endorsement), maybe it’s a little bit more experience, him giving me that,” laughed Crosby. “Connor’s obviously a great leader and he’s done so much for the team here and Canada as well. Any time you’re looked to wear a letter, whether it’s a C or an A or be a part of Team Canada is an honour.”

McDavid will have no trouble following the lead of Crosby, who has two Olympic gold medals — as alternate to Scott Niedermayer in 2010 in Vancouver, then as captain in 2014 in Sochi — and also won gold as captain for Canada at the fantastic 2016 World Cup.

“It’s just how it should be. He’s Sidney Crosby and he’s been there so many times. He’s the guy. It’s not like I’ve thought about it a lot. It’s such a no-brainer,” said McDavid, who zoned out of a followup question from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug about what 97 might pick up on and off the ice from great players like Crosby, and asked Rishaug to repeat it.

Maybe because he was still thinking of the how definitive the Canadian C is.

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Same with his Oilers teammate Corey Perry, who was a teammate of Crosby in the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, so has had a close-up look at both Crosby and McDavid as captains.

“They’re both great leaders, both lead in the same way but I agree with Connor. Sid’s the guy. World Cup, Olympics, Stanley Cup. Sid’s done it all,” said Perry. “I have full faith in Sid. He knows how to do it, he can lead the country.”

Pied Piper for McDavid, too.

“I’m really looking forward to playing with Sid, but also to play with so many of the guys. Nate (MacKinnon), (Cale) Makar. The list goes on and on of great Canadian players,” said McDavid, who isn’t a kid any more at 27, turning 28 before the 4 Nations, but he’s been denied a chance to play in the Olympics in 2018 and 2022, when the NHL didn’t let their top players go to Korea or China.

What will it be like for Crosby to be playing on the same team as McDavid, instead of going against him?

“Much better, that’s for sure” smiled Crosby, who has trained with McDavid in the summers. “I skate with him a bit, seeing him up close, how fast he does everything, how fast his hands are, everything’s at such a high speed and it’s stuff that he makes look pretty easy, but it’s really not.”

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So the 4 Nations will be their coming out party together.

“The 4 Nations is a prequel of what’s to come, kind of dipping our toes into international play with the Olympics to follow,” said McDavid, who fully admits he’ll be a sponge around Crosby, or anybody older than him on the international stage.

What does Crosby expect of McDavid in the 4 Nations? More of the same, he says.

“He’s used to high expectations put on his shoulders but playing in the Stanley Cup Final, getting to game 7. I don’t want to speak for him but I think he’ll be pretty excited waiting this long and playing for Canada and some of the best players in the world,” said Crosby.

McDavid was certainly tickled to be on the same Oilers team as two-time Norris trophy winner and three-time Cup champion Duncan Keith, who also played on the gold medal-winning teams in Vancouver and Sochi.

“I know how much I learned from him. He’s played in every big game there is. I look at how he conducts himself, how he handles himself every day. You learn a lot from guys who’ve played in these international tournaments,” said McDavid.

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Seconded by Perry, another player McDavid looks up to.

“Any knowledge you can grab from players along the way is good. You just soak it in. You might not realize it at the time but it’ll come out later,” said Perry.

A snark would say who wears the C at the 4 Nations is age over beauty, and maybe it is. McDavid has nine goals, 27 points and is plus-15 in their previous head-to-head meetings while Crosby is 3-4-7, minus-12, and McDavid is the best player on this planet while Crosby, with his three Stanley Cups, is 37 and theoretically on the back nine of his 1,804 point career.

But Crosby had 94 points last season, no small feat, and while they say time is undefeated, it hasn’t caught Sid. He has seven points in his first eight Penguins games this season.

“Sid hasn’t changed at all, just great year after great year … so impressive to see as someone that I grew up admiring, and still do to this day,” said McDavid, who dropped into Pittsburgh to see Crosby several times when he was a teenager, playing junior two hours away in Erie, Pa.

“It doesn’t seem like he’s got any signs of slowing down. It’s always special to go against Sid and (Evgeni) Malkin and (Kris) Letang, all those guys over there who have been part of so many great teams.”

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Crosby likes the McDavid challenges, too, as Gretzky loved the even rarer Mario Lemieux matchups back in the day, due to Lemieux’s medical issues, although 97 has bested 87 too often, with the Oilers winning six straight.

He knows McDavid is closing in on 1,000 points, 10 away, in 652 games.

“Yeah, pretty amazing. I don’t know if you talk about how quickly you get to 1,000, but it’s a nice number, you join pretty good company,” said Crosby, an opponent but a fan.

“It’s his consistency, his ability to keep raising his play. You have to evolve, teams are good at looking at your strengths and he’s found ways to improve. Look at the level he was able to find last year, especially in the finals when the Oilers were down. He elevated his game again. Shows how much he cares,” said Crosby.

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