On a bustling street corner in Edmonton, 11-year-old Liam stood bravely in the chilly Canadian air, offering bottled water to passing pedestrians. A handwritten sign beside him read: “Please help. Selling water to support my sick mother.”

Liam’s mother, Grace, had recently been diagnosed with a serious illness, making Liam the family’s main source of support. Determined and hopeful, Liam persevered despite the biting cold.

As the hours passed, Liam noticed someone familiar walking his way—none other than Connor McDavid, the beloved captain of the Edmonton Oilers. Liam’s eyes widened in disbelief as the hockey superstar approached him with a kind smile.

“Hey there,” McDavid said warmly. “What’s your name?”.

“Liam,” he responded softly, holding tightly onto his remaining bottles of water. Liam explained his mother’s illness and how he was trying his best to help her.

Moved by the boy’s determination and courage, McDavid purchased all of Liam’s remaining bottles of water, but his support didn’t stop there. Recognizing Liam’s sincerity and strength, McDavid offered even greater help, pledging to assist in covering the medical costs for Liam’s mother and ensuring the family received the care they needed.

The heartfelt encounter quickly spread through social media, capturing the community’s attention and inspiring others to support Liam and his mother. Within days, a wave of generosity followed McDavid’s example, significantly improving Liam’s family situation.

“Connor McDavid changed our lives,” Grace shared tearfully from her hospital bed, holding Liam close. “His kindness reminded us all of the goodness in the world.”

Through one compassionate act, Connor McDavid showed Liam—and countless others—the incredible power of empathy, generosity, and community spirit.

McDavid and Draisaitl can’t save Oilers alone

From Todd McLellan, to Dave Tippett, to Jay Woodcroft, to Kris Knoblauch, it’s a trap they all fall into. A drug they each succumb to, sending Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl over the boards together the moment things start to get a little bit desperate.

It ends the same way for all of them: Down and out, with a two-man team that can’t win and a bench full of players wondering what their role is supposed to be.

“Obviously, that’s something we’ve gone to quite a bit. We haven’t been getting offence from other guys,” Knoblauch said after yet another loss, this time 3-2 in New Jersey, as the Oilers spiral towards third place in the Pacific Division, their dreams of first place now seven points in arrears to Vegas. “When those guys are together, you control the offensive zone faceoffs. They don’t (spend time) in the defensive zone. You need a goal, most likely they can give us one.”

It creates a Catch 22, however, where the coach demands of his depth players, “Do more!” While almost everyone not named Connor or Leon say, “How much am I supposed to accomplish from the bench, coach?”

Oilers’ Draisaitl takes McDavid feed and goes short side for 47th goal
Watch as Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl takes a feed from Connor McDavid and then buries his league-leading 47th goal of the season.

Example: In a tepid loss to the Devils Thursday, Jeff Skinner opened the night on a line with Leon Draisaitl.

In a game that featured just one Oilers power play, Draisaitl played 24:48 while Skinner played 10:10, given no more than 15 shifts to show the coach he can help. The eternally ineffective Viktor Arvidsson, Draisaitl’s other winger at puck drop, played 11:16.

The funny thing is, for the most part, Knoblauch abstained from The Great Temptation last season. Perhaps because his depth players afforded him that abstinence, or maybe because he was new to the gig and could see more clearly how the habit had crippled his predecessors.

But he’s hooked on it now, with a struggling Oilers team full of second-, third- and fourth-liners whose collective confidence you could fit inside a shot glass.

“The big guys, they score all the time,” said Adam Henrique, who has a grand total of two goals and four points in his past 22 games. “For the depth guys, (they need) to try and find some ugly goals to be momentum boosters. Trying to find that next one. You get the one-goal lead, you want to get the two-goal lead. Try to put the game out of reach.”

The Oilers have now lost eight of their past 11, and dropped six of their past seven on the road. They’re in the kind of death spiral that ends on the golf course before April is up, and they’ve now got 17 games to find some semblance of the game that took them into June a year ago.

“Everyone knows we’re going through a tough stretch right now. Things aren’t easy,” said defenceman Brett Kulak. “We talk amongst ourselves in the room, and we’ve got to stick together. We can’t start pointing fingers at anyone. None of us are happy, and that’s the easy thing to do when you get frustrated. We’ve got to stick together and we’ll dig ourselves out.”

The head coach pointed a finger at the fourth line for the game-tying goal, though we think he’ll change his mind when he watches the video.

Devils’ Bratt fires shot past screened Skinner to score equalizer
After a Max Jones turnover, the New Jersey Devils cycle the puck in the Edmonton Oilers’ zone and Jesper Bratt takes advantage with a tying goal shot past a screened Stuart Skinner.

“The turning point in the third period was … we turn the puck over in the neutral zone against their top line,” Knoblauch said. “It’s our fourth line against their top line, and we turn the puck over, which they capitalize on — something that just absolutely can’t happen, especially with a 2-1 lead.

“The top line, they controlled most of the play when they were on the ice. The Henrique-Arvidsson-Skinner line in the third period, I thought they had some good opportunities. It was just fortunate that the turning point (came) when we’re up 2-1, that we make that kind of mistake.”

Yes, Max Jones turned a puck over, but he was inside the New Jersey blue line and there were four Oilers behind the puck. New Jersey took nearly 20 seconds to score after cycling the puck.

Again, when Knoblauch watches that play again, he’ll dislike his team’s work in front of its own net a lot more than the Jones turnover, a play that happens 15 times a game or more.

Stuart Skinner was scored on twice on long shots through a maze of players, as Jersey won the net front in Edmonton’s zone, and subsequently, the game.

OIL SPILLS — Draisaitl extended his point streak to 16 games with a goal. He has 12-12-24 during the streak, the longest active point streak in the NHL, and second longest in the NHL this season.