Award nominees McDavid, Matthews already starting to define NHL’s next generation
Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr made sure they were in Toronto to witness the first NHL meeting between Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.
McDavid and Matthews didn’t see what the big deal was, but to those on the outside the significance was clear. This was the first meeting between the two players who will define the next generation in the NHL, much as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin repped the league for the past dozen years and Mario Lemieux and the Great One did before that.
“I really think that those two kids, Auston and Connor — both No. 1 picks overall — they’ve accepted their responsibility and their role, not only to the teams, but to the league,” Gretzky said hours before Matthews’ Leafs topped McDavid’s Oilers in overtime on the first of November.
The page has now begun to turn from Crosby and Ovechkin toward McDavid and Matthews, who were each nominated for a major NHL award this season.