A Solitary Man

It’s been a bit …..no excuse but it’s been an eventful year so the presses haven’t been active but it’s as good a time as any.

So many topics… so little space… so many thoughts… so little time… but here goes…

A relatively small sports story came across my eyes last week and though I had a lot of material with the always busy Fall season upon us, I was fascinated by this news. 

Connor McDavid for those of you who may not know is arguable the greatest player of this current hockey generation.  

He just may be on the Mount Rushmore of all time greats, that statement will probably not get a lot of arguments from most puck heads. Recently, he extended his contract with his team, the Edmonton Oilers at his current salary of 12 million dollars for 2 more years, so 3 in total at this number. Nice country you say, not a bad living you mention, and you’re not wrong… .but here’s a stat that might just make you think differently.

Of the 4 major sports in this country; there are 610 players making 12 million dollars or more with their annual salary… players that warm the bench in the NBA, pinch hit in MLB and are backup guards in the NFL. My point here is to wonder if Mr.McDavid has lost his mind. He’s 28 years old and in his absolute prime years.

Now the NHL understandably has a salary cap that is much less than most sports but shouldn’t he be by far the highest paid player in his respective sport? Michael Jordan was… Tiger was… Mike Trout was… Aaron Judge… Kobe… the list goes on. All of them and others sought and received the highest possible dollar available to them. Some moving on to other teams when they didn’t receive the most, anyway you get the drift. 

One reason… McDavid wanted his team to have the financial capability to compete for a Stanley Cup and the only way to do that is if he chose to stay and rework his salary with the best interest of the team.

Some of the players mentioned above did win championships but none to my memory ever balked at a raise for the benefit of the team.

Kudos Connor… now that’s an athlete to look up to.