Connor McDavid Dropped By To Remind Everyone That He's Still The Head Wizard In The NHL
Andy Devlin. Getty Images.Naturally everyone was going to lose their shit when Trevor Zegras pulled off the Michigan last night. Zegras has been acting like an absolute maniac all season, so it's no wonder. Now I don't want to diminish the filth we saw on display in Montreal last night or anything, but I think it's safe to say that the Michigan ain't what it used to be. You go to any rink across North America right now and there's a good chance you catch someone at any level pulling it off. Maybe not as silky smooth as Zegras made it look, but the point remains the same.
What you're not going to see at any rink, however, is a true wizard at work. What you're not going to see is anything close to resembling the audacity displayed here from 97.
Again, not trying to diminish the Michigan or anything. But Trevor Zegras was able to pull that off because it was just over a minute into the 2nd period. His first shift of the period and his tape was still dry. Anybody can put the puck up on their blade with a fresh tape job. But to have hands like McDavid? Fastest hands on the planet. You blink and you miss him stickhandle at least 7 times. It's like he's Neo and just sees the game in bullet speed. Hands moving faster than the speed of light, but still has everything slowed down for him that the moment he sees Juuse Saros start to cheat to his blocker side he digs those edges in and pulls him to the backhand. The moment he has him in this position, it's over.
And here's what is so fucked up about this move. Look at how little space McDavid has to work with. He's right on top of the crease, can practically smell Saros' breath. A mere mortal would realize they have absolutely nowhere to go from there. But not McDavid. All he needs is an inch of space to kill you.
Absurdity. Shouldn't be possible, yet here we are.
Don't get me wrong, the Michigan is fun to watch. But like I was saying, it's probably been pulled off another 3 times since I started writing this blog. Hands like McDavid, however? Rare breed. Total wizard behavior.
P.S. -- I don't know why NHL defensemen continue to even bother skating backwards when they have McDavid flying down their side of the ice. Just turn around and start sprinting towards your own net. You know what's going to happen anyway.