Connor McDavid

He is one of only two players – after fellow Oilers captain Wayne Gretzky in 1982 – to unanimously win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player.

Connor Andrew McDavid (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

McDavid was born on January 13, 1997, in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

His mother Kelly played one year of recreational ice hockey as a child before turning her attention towards skiing, while his father Brian was a high school ice hockey player and dedicated Boston Bruins fan.

McDavid began playing hockey around the age of three, practicing on rollerblades in the family basement.

He began playing organized youth hockey the next year, as his parents lied about his age to allow him to play with the other five-year-olds.

When he was six, the local youth hockey association in his hometown of Newmarket forbade McDavid to play against older children, and his parents, believing that he would be "bored out of his mind" in house league hockey, enrolled him in an Aurora, Ontario, hockey program.

From there, he won four Ontario Minor Hockey Association championships with the York Simcoe Express, a team coached by his father.

McDavid added another 19 points (11 goals and eight assists) in seven OHL Cup games, the most by any player since Sam Gagner recorded 17 points in five games during the 2005 tournament.

Although he received the Tim Adams Memorial Trophy as the tournament MVP, McDavid's team was defeated 2–1 in the OHL Cup final by the Mississauga Rebels.

Although McDavid contemplated playing NCAA Division I hockey, he ultimately decided to enter the junior ice hockey circuit as an adolescent rather than waiting to begin a college career.

McDavid applied for exceptional player status through Hockey Canada, and after passing through evaluations of his athleticism, academics, and maturity, he was allowed to enter the junior hockey draft at the age of 15 rather than 16.

He was only the third Ontario Hockey League (OHL) player to be granted such an exception, following John Tavares in 2005 and Aaron Ekblad in 2011.

In 2009, McDavid participated in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with his York Simcoe team, which also featured future professional ice hockey player Sam Bennett.

Coached by his father, McDavid won four Ontario Minor Hockey Association championships with the York Simcoe Express, but he left the team in 2011 to join the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL).

There, McDavid was named the GTHL Player of the Year and the winner of the Tim Adams Memorial Trophy.

In 2011, McDavid left the Express for the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), the team that he and his father had defeated in the previous year's Ontario Hockey Federation championship.

The decision came at a social cost, as he lost many of the friends that he had made with York Simcoe.

He was granted exceptional player status in 2012 by Hockey Canada, which allowed him to begin playing junior ice hockey at the age of 15.

He won the GTHL Player of the Year Award in 2012 after scoring 33 goals and recording 39 assists in 33 regular season games.

On April 7, 2012, the Erie Otters selected McDavid first overall in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection, and he signed with the team that June.

As the first overall selection in that year's OHL draft, McDavid was the recipient of the 2012 Jack Ferguson Award.

McDavid joined the Otters for the 2012–13 season, where he scored his first OHL goal on September 21, in an 8–2 loss to the London Knights.

That October, he was named the OHL Rookie of the Month after recording at least one point in all 10 games he played.

McDavid also represented Canada at several international competitions during this time, winning gold medals at the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships and 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

McDavid's OHL career concluded with a 2014–15 season in which he recorded 120 points and received a number of OHL and Canadian Hockey League (CHL) awards, including the Red Tilson Trophy, Wayne Gretzky 99 Award, and CHL Player of the Year awards.

The Oilers selected him first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

McDavid spent his childhood playing ice hockey against older children.

The Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) selected him first overall in that year's draft, and he played there until 2015.

After finishing his junior hockey career, McDavid joined the Oilers for their 2015–16 season.

Despite missing three months of his rookie season due to a fractured clavicle, he was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team and was a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

The following year, the Oilers appointed a 19-year-old McDavid the youngest captain in NHL history.

Recording 100 points during the 2016–17 season, McDavid also became the youngest player to win the Art Ross Trophy for the leading scorer in the NHL.

He was also awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and was selected to the NHL First All-Star Team.

Although the Oilers missed the Stanley Cup playoffs during the next two seasons, McDavid scored 41 goals in consecutive years.

He injured his knee in the final game of the 2018–19 season but underwent a nonsurgical rehabilitation process that allowed him to return in time for the start of the 2019–20 season.

In 2020–21, despite the COVID-19 pandemic shortening the NHL season to only 56 games, McDavid recorded 100 points for the fourth time in his career.

McDavid is considered one of the best players in the NHL by other players, fans, and journalists, and he has drawn comparisons to players such as Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.

His opponents have praised his speed on the ice, and McDavid has won Fastest Skater at the NHL All-Star Skills Competition four times.

He is a four-time NHL First Team All-Star, a five-time recipient of the Art Ross Trophy, a four-time winner of the Ted Lindsay Award, a three-time recipient of the Hart Memorial Trophy, and the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner for 2022–23 as the league's leading goal-scorer.