Connor McDavid’s Olympic debut lived up to the hype

When you’ve been given the title as the best player in the world, there comes with it a pressure to perform when you step onto the world stage. Connor McDavid lived up to that billing on Thursday, registering three assists in Canada‘s 5-0 win over Czechia to kick off their Olympics.

Hockey fans had plenty of reasons to be disappointed that the NHL didn’t send its players to either of the last two Winter Olympics, but perhaps none were bigger than being robbed of the chance to see McDavid representing his country in international best-on-best competition. It’s possible to take for granted that McDavid is arguably the most exciting offensive talent the NHL has ever seen, but seeing him in the Olympics offers fans the opportunity to appreciate him in a new light.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed McDavid’s dominant performance in his Olympic debut.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Connor McDavid was responsible for creating 14 scoring chances in that hockey game. Czechia as a hockey team only had 12. McDavid was absolutely flying, and even though the first period maybe wasn’t as good as you wanted, that turned into a very dominant performance for Canada.

Carter Hutton: On the broadcast something that stuck out for me was Mike Johnson between the benches just talking about his speed at that level. How fast this game was, and McDavid being at another level with what he creates. I think it’s through the neutral zone. There was so much talk about what these rink dimensions were going to do to these teams. I think it’s unbelievable how fast this game was and where they’re at. He was the third shift out to start that game, his line. They’re definitely not the third line but it just goes to show you the spoil of riches they have.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Friday’s episode here…