The Edmonton Oilers didn’t look much like a team interested in playing hockey Saturday night, despite playing a fierce rival a few days before the trade deadline.
They lost the latest installment of the Battle of Alberta 5-0 to a Calgary Flames team that hadn’t played since Monday; Edmonton was skating for the third time in four nights. The difference in energy was apparent from the beginning.
But this isn’t just a case of one rested team jumping on a tired one. The Oilers had gathered earlier in the day at their Calgary hotel to watch a memorial service for Colby Cave, who died unexpectedly at age 25 from a brain bleed a year ago.
This also was not a case of unfortunate scheduling; Edmonton was originally supposed to have Saturday off, but this game was recently rescheduled from May 7 so that Hockey Night in Canada would have a second game to show (the Vancouver Canucks are dealing with several Covid cases and have been unable to play lately.)
Connor McDavid, the generally soft-spoken super star, rightfully called the league out:
Connor McDavid talks about having to play on the day of Colby Cave's celebration of life. pic.twitter.com/PZ8jta0Gwe
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 11, 2021
an emotional connor mcdavid: "some days are more than just about hockey. obviously the performance wasn't there tonight, but today is about colby and his memorial and his celebration of life. i thought everyone did a great job speaking." pic.twitter.com/Y1VLsREAoh
— zach laing (@zjlaing) April 11, 2021
Those are searing critiques for a guy as mild-mannered as McDavid. And while he and other teammates also tried to give their standard hockey guy answers about playing through adversity and finding a way no matter what, it all came out hollow. This team should not have been playing Saturday night.
Here’s how Sportsnet’s Mark Spector described the Ceremony of Life that Edmonton players watched prior to their game:
It was an emotionally draining memorial for a 25-year-old brother whose beautiful young widow Emily wept throughout her tragic eulogy, trembling as she said her heart-wrenching goodbye. Cave’s mother wept while talking about his first NHL game as a Boston Bruin, while his father, a burly Saskatchewan rancher named Al, could scarcely be understood, so choked was he to have lost his only son.
Then they dropped a puck at the Saddledome and said: “Go play.”
Man, I bet those Hockey Night in Canada viewers watching an emotionally devastated team get whooped really appreciated the NHL having their best interest in mind! Just needed that game there!
What makes this move by the NHL all the more offensive is that it continues to manipulate the schedule to leave room for the Canucks to finish their season. The same Canucks who’ve had their last 7 games postponed because 25 members of the organization have contracted Covid-19 — many with symptoms — in the worst outbreak of the season.
And yes the Canucks (35 points in 37 games) could conceivably catch the Canadiens (43 points in 38 games) for the fourth playoff spot but …. no. Vancouver has a -20 goal differential and is going to be asked to play 19 games in 31 days.
As @ThomasDrance points out, the Canucks are now being asked (ordered?) by the NHL to play 19 games in 31 days. As many of them — and presumably their family members — recover from an illness about which we're still just learning. That's ridiculous, bordering on reckless.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) April 10, 2021
It’s absolutely reckless. Just as making the Oilers play on Saturday was heartless.
TV contracts pay the bills, sure, but the fact the NHL couldn’t get more creative about how to fill a time slot — and that the league is pretending it’s absolutely essential for one team to play every last game despite a dramatic outbreak — shows the players how the league actually feels about them.
Oilers honored late Colby Cave with a heartbreaking tribute video