When Connor McDavid of all hockey players gets cheeky, you know something must have ruffled his usually stoic feathers.
On Thursday, McDavid fired back at criticisms lobbied against him from former NHL head coach and current ESPN analyst John Tortorella. In comments made on air last week, Tortorella was harsh on McDavid — who has critiqued referees in the past for putting their whistles away against him — and stated that the Edmonton Oilers star needed to change his game to win in this league.
“Yeah and he complained about it a little bit, that he wasn’t getting the calls,” Tortorella said. “Quite honestly, just shut up. Don’t talk about it.”
“I do think he has to change his game a bit. Not turn into a checker, obviously. He’s talked about culture, he’s talked about standards, he’s talked about winning. You’re not just going to fill the net during the playoffs and outscore teams. You have to play on the other side of the puck. You have to have that business-type attitude of, ‘Nothing’s going to bother me, no matter how you’re going to check me.’”
It took a week for McDavid to be asked by the media if he deserves to have more calls go his way, and his brief — but effective response — was a clear shot at Tortorella: “I guess I just gotta shut up about this.”
"I guess I just gotta shut up about this."
Connor McDavid when asked if he deserves to get more calls. 🤭 pic.twitter.com/3ciAFc5F26
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 18, 2021
According to Evolving Hockey, and via The Athletic, McDavid is 113th in the league with 1.21 minor penalties drawn per 60 minutes of play.
For a player as highly skilled as McDavid, there’s no way he shouldn’t be drawing more penalties as the fastest, most explosive center in the sport. The total of minor penalties per game has been dropping season-by-season as well in what is a clear overall shift of the NHL’s priorities in how the league wants the game to be managed.
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