SUNRISE, Fla. — This is it. This is the moment for which he has worked, the moment for which he has waited.
Connor McDavid wants to seize it.
When the Edmonton Oilers center arrived for Stanley Cup Final Media Day on Friday, he was greeted by a horde of reporters, some of whom had been jockeying for position for almost an hour.
Someone asked a question before he even had the chance to sit down at a microphone.
“Just excited,” he said. “Excited to get the madness all over with. Today’s a busy day for everybody, but once it’s over with, it’s just going to be hockey.”
Game 1 against the Florida Panthers is at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).
In a sense, it has felt like forever for McDavid to get here. In another, it has felt like blur.
It was in this building, then called BB&T Center, where Edmonton selected McDavid with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft on June 26, 2015. He was 18 years old then, a fresh-faced kid, the next great superstar.
He’s 27 now, the face of the League with a bushy red playoff beard.
“I think looking back, it goes by so fast, honestly,” he said. “It feels like it was yesterday that that night was happening, and here we are nine years later.”
