More rumblings of unrest in Edmonton, insider claims McDavid wants to be traded

The Edmonton Oilers front office staff have been in full panic mode ever since captain Connor McDavid criticized his team’s coaching and management staff earlier this week. The Oilers have now been mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 11th time in 12 seasons, prompting McDavid to issue some sobering words to the media.

Check it out:

“We don’t even have a GM. We have a lot of crap to figure out. I hope we can put the right man in the spot and can put together a good team. We let (losing) streaks drag on, we let times were we weren’t able to find wins drag on. You have to find a way to stop the bleeding, quick.”

“We want to play in the playoffs as a team. I personally want to play in the playoffs. I’m not happy about it. It’s going to be a long summer. It’s been an insane season. Coaching change. GM change. Good times and bad times. It’s been a roller coaster. It’s been emotionally challenging.”

Check it out for yourself:

Regardless of whether you’re an Oilers fan or not, you absolutely have to feel for McDavid. Yes, he’s just 22 years old and there are hopefully better days ahead for the Oilers franchise, but you can’t help but feel that he’s just wasting his prime years playing for an inept organization. In fact, some fans and members of the media have openly discussed the idea of a trade out of Edmonton, just to give McDavid some reprieve.

The Athletic’s Justin Bourne was on Toronto’s 590 The FAN radio recently and said that he believes McDavid in fact DOES want out.

Check it out:

“You know he wants to. If it wasn’t Connor McDavid and it was any other player it would be totally understandable and justified and all the rest of things. I do get the sense that he wants that. The biggest tell to me was in the interview, where he said he was really frustrated. The reporters gave him an opening to be like, ‘You know, it’s OK, we’re going to turn this around.’… When they asked him, ‘What do you think about next year?’ He was like, ‘We don’t even have a GM.’ It was like he was done pretending and he was just saying to reporters, like, ‘Let’s all drop the charade here. This is not good, it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better.’ I’m sure he wants to get the hell out of there but there’s not really a way to do it without creating some LeBron James-esque fire storm with the decision. I would love to see it. That would be great theatre, wouldn’t it?… All I know is I really want this to happen.”

Wow… where to begin?

First off, it sounds like Bourne is speculating and going off his own intuition, rather than any factual information. But, he does have direct ties to the NHL, so he could be in possession of some insider information… who knows?

What we do know however is that, regardless of his frustration level, everything McDavid has said his entire career points to him staying in Edmonton for the long haul and being part of the solution. To steal a term from NBC’s Pierre McGuire, McDavid is a high character individual and doesn’t seem the type to turn his back on his team.