Connor McDavid has rage filled answer directed at coaches for series loss

Connor McDavid with the Edmonton Oilers Photo credit: Edmonton Oilers Raw

Oilers captain Connor McDavid was clearly going through the brutal feelings of another tough loss in the Stanley Cup Final, and had one rare rage-filled answer directed at his team.

Both McDavid and Draisaitl were shut down by the Florida Panthers smothering defence this series relative to the Oilers bottom six forwards, which is never a recipe for success. Clearly, McDavid was enraged by it.

Connor McDavid has rare angry answer directed at Oilers lack of adjustments

McDavid was noticeably tense and upset when speaking the media post game, and let his frustrations slip about the Oilers lack of adjustments in the series. The Oilers captain admitted the Panthers dominated them, and Edmonton couldn’t change it.

REPORTER: What was the difference in this series?

MCDAVID: Their forecheck was great, they tilted the rink. They were able to stay on top of us all over the place. We were never really able to generate any momentum up the ice. We kept f****** trying the same thing, over and over again, banging our heads against the wall.

We kept on saying we want to try to win a 2-1 game. Never found a way to do that, obviously.

When McDavid expresses that level of discontent about the team trying the same tactics to no avail, it’s a concerning sign.

The captain of the team and the best player in the NHL surely spoke up about needing to make changes, but is frustrated to the point he dropped an extremely rare curse in his interview. If he understood a need for tactical changes and spoke up, the Oilers failure to adapt has to be on the coaches.

The Oilers had life earlier in this series, but as it went on, the Panthers only continued to completely smother McDavid and Draisaitl. When the two superstars are held off the scoresheet in an elimination game, the Oilers simply won’t have much of a chance.

Major adjustments were needed to try to sway the tide, but also as McDavid said, the Panthers simply tilted the ice, and the Oilers failed to find any offence.

After the Stanley Cup Final, it’s obviously understandable for McDavid to be this frustrated – but to hear him call out the lack of in-game adjustments which is the coach’s role is a pointed comment. We’ll see if changes come this offseason that reflect McDavid’s thoughts on this series.