Edmonton Oilers Should Not Put Too Much Pressure on Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid has become the great hope to save a once proud Edmonton Oilers franchise. For the past nine years they’ve fallen on hard times – and that’s putting it in a nice way.

Then again, Taylor Hall was supposed to be “the great hope to save the Oilers,” and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle, and Nail Yakupov, and Darnell Nurse. Edmonton has spent nearly the last decade stockpiling No. 1 picks who would save the franchise, and while all of the aforementioned players have turned out to be solid, none have been able to weave the magical wand that would lift the Oilers out of the NHL‘s basement and back into contention.

So what makes McDavid so different from the others? If you haven’t watched the kid from Richmond Hill, Ontario play, I suggest you go to YouTube and watch his highlights. McDavid is the player closest to possessing the greatness of Wayne Gretzky. Some NHL pundits are already suggesting that he could be in contention for the Hart Trophy this season.

While this is all great news for desperate Oilers fans, it would be wise for the coaching staff and the fans to not put heaps of pressure on the kid. Yes, he is a gifted player with out-of-this-world offensive skills, and he could become that “great hope” that Edmonton has been aimlessly trying to find for the past decade. But he’s still a rookie, and until he can prove that the hype is real in the big boy league, it would be wise to give him the opportunity to grow into his role as “the next Great One” instead of forcing him to be that player before he is ready.

Kareem Gantt gives his two cents on all things sports for Rant Inc. Want to know what’s on his mind? Follow him on Twitter at @kganttwrites.