Connor McDavid on a best-on-best tournament: “You see Ohtani vs. Trout and that’s what hockey has been missing for almost a decade now”

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Connor McDavid on a best-on-best tournament: “You see Ohtani vs. Trout and that’s what hockey has been missing for almost a decade now”

Connor McDavid wants another best-on-best international tournament for hockey, and I’m sure a majority of players in the NHL would agree with him.

The Edmonton Oilers superstar spoke on the topic during a scrum earlier on Wednesday as they prepare for a game against the Arizona Coyotes.

“That’s what we’ve been asking for in hockey for a long time, right? Best-on-best,” said McDavid. “Look, everyone’s talking about baseball and you see Ohtani vs. Trout and that’s what hockey has been missing for almost a decade now.”

The conversation comes in the wake of the finals of the World Baseball Classic between the United States and Japan on Tuesday night. The World Baseball Classic is a international tournament that takes place during Spring Training, and while it’s a best-on-best tournament in theory, most players opt out as they don’t want to risk injury and miss the MLB regular season, so it’s more similar to the World Championships in hockey.

Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout are teammates on the Los Angeles Angels, but competed against each other for Japan and the USA in the game, which Japan won 3-2. Both are considered to be two of the best in the sport, with Trout being one of the best hitters while Ohtani works as both a pitcher and hitter for the Angels, something almost never seen in the sport these days.

Best-on-best is a hot topic in the NHL, as it’s something that the players haven’t had a chance to participate in for a while. The last international best-on-best tournament of any nature for hockey was the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, but that featured Team North America and Team Europe so not everyone got to represent their country. Before that, it was the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, meaning it’s been nearly a decade since the last true best-on-best tournament in hockey.

The NHL opted out of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea due to scheduling and safety concerns, among other reasons. They were slated to return to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, but backed out last minute in December 2021 due to the ongoing situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and human rights concerns associated with the tournament.

Players have been upset about the lack of commitment on the NHL’s part to allow them to go to these tournaments, something they believe they should be allowed to do. This was sparked after the opt-out in 2018, but has seemed to reach a boiling point after 2022, especially considering that the players were promised they could go while negotiating a new CBA agreement in 2020.

However, the written language wasn’t solid on that promise, and left a bit of wiggle room for opting out. In section 24.10 of the CBA, it states that “Notwithstanding the foregoing, the NHL and the NHLPA commit to participate in the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics, subject to negotiation of the terms acceptable to each of the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF (and/or IOC).”

As a result, many of the games biggest names have yet to play for their country in a true best-on-best tournament. Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon all played for Team North America in 2016, while Leon Draisaitl played on Team Europe, and younger stars like Cale Makar, Tage Thompson, and Jason Robertson have yet to play in a tournament at all.

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