Brayden retweeted
Connor McDavid: “I had one thought when I became captain of the Oilers.
Obviously, when you’re given the C at 19, there's a million things that go through your mind. You start wondering if you can grow a beard. You start thinking about your suits. But the one thing I kept thinking was....
Man, I really gotta move out of my parents’ house now.
I'm supposed to be the leader of a room with all these grown men who have two or three kids. How are they supposed to listen to me when I get back home at night and my mom is like, ‘Hey. Tough game. I washed your sheets.’
I wanted to be the captain of the Edmonton Oilers. I wanted that pressure. No doubt. But I’d be lying if I said it came naturally to me, or that the weight of it wasn’t heavy.
I remember when things weren’t going our way, and I’d look around the room and think, Geez, we sucked tonight. Somebody has to step up and say something. And a room full of guys would turn their heads, and it would kind of hit me…. Oh, they’re looking at me.
Now, almost 10 years later, I think about that kid a lot, and how every challenge, every tough night, was a chance to be better than the day before.
Back then, I was lucky we had some great veterans in the room who made life easy on me. Hendricks, Letestu, Sekera. I’m so thankful to those guys. But as I’ve gotten older, and we've had some deep playoff runs, wearing the C means something entirely different now. It’s not enough to put up points or represent the community well. All I want to do is win. It’s all we think about in our room. It’s all we talk about in the offseason. It’s why I get up every morning. It’s why I’ve stayed in Edmonton for more than a decade.” playerstribu.ne/McDavid
@cmcdavid97 | @EdmontonOilers | @NHL
Quitter
Dylan Larkin is not a quitter and again he’s a human being that deserves respect.
There comes a point in professional sports when we need to remember that underneath the jersey, underneath the expectations, and underneath the pressure is a human being with feelings, emotions, a family, and a life beyond hockey.
Today, we want to stand up for Dylan Larkin.
For over a decade, Dylan Larkin gave everything he had to the Detroit Red Wings. He represented his hometown organization with pride, carried the responsibility of wearing the captain’s “C,” and continued showing up through some incredibly difficult seasons.
Now, because of his decision to seek a new chapter in his career, some fans and members of the media are questioning his loyalty, his leadership, and even his character.
We strongly disagree with those personal attacks.
You can disagree with Dylan’s decision to stop playing while awaiting a trade. You can be disappointed with how things have unfolded. Those feelings are understandable.
But calling someone a quitter and questioning the person they are because of a hockey decision crosses a line.
Nobody outside Dylan’s closest circle truly knows everything he’s experienced emotionally throughout this situation.
This is a young man who grew up dreaming of wearing the Detroit Red Wings jersey. He didn’t just play for the organization. He lived that dream.
And while this chapter may not end the way anyone imagined, it should never erase the years of dedication, sacrifice, leadership, and commitment he gave to Detroit.
Dylan Larkin doesn’t need thousands of people tearing him down right now. He needs people who recognize his humanity.
To Dylan, we hope you understand that there are hockey fans across North America who still believe in you, respect you, and appreciate everything you’ve accomplished.
Your value as a person will never be determined by a hockey game, a trade request, or the opinions of people on social media.
And to every young hockey player watching this situation unfold, remember something important:
You can disagree with someone’s decisions without destroying their character. You can be disappointed in an athlete without forgetting they’re a human being.
Dylan Larkin has given so much to the game of hockey, and we believe he still has so much more to give.
Wherever his journey takes him next, we hope he finds happiness, peace, and the opportunity to fall in love with the game all over again.
Sometimes the strongest thing we can do for someone isn’t to judge the chapter they’re closing, but to support the person who has to find the courage to begin another.
We’ve yet to hear from Dylan Larkin on what is going on and until we hear his story we should all be careful on what we say about this situation. Dylan has earned that respect from us hockey fans.
From all of us at the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast, we’re wishing Dylan Larkin and his family nothing but the very best.
#NHL #DylanLarkin #LGRW
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Dylan Larkin quit playing for his team. He is a quitter
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/qui…
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Brayden retweeted
Edmonton
We love our drug addicts and hate our taxpayers...
Hey business owner you spent your entire life trying to build, were gonna park 100 addicts in front of your shop to greet customers....
They should make the mayor live there for their term.
Brayden retweeted
We went to Vegreville to get these Young Farts involved in the #Oilers home schedule release, but they ended up running away with it… 🚐 #LetsGoOilers
And here it is 😂 these guys are unreal.
We chatted with one @EdmontonOilers player tonight on the possibility of hiring Mike Babcock and this player said that “I can’t support the hiring of Mike and if he does become our Head Coach I will sit down with my agent to discuss my options going forward”
A story to follow.
2
141
Never let this guy go.
"It's loud in there. After the anthem, one thing I always do is smile & take it all in. That was one today where I was like, this is cool."
Connor Ingram on the atmosphere at @RogersPlace during his first #Oilers playoff game.
@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers
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Brayden retweeted
I'm told this is 100% untrue. There was never any request for Wayne Gretzky to come in the Team Canada room before Sunday's gold-medal game
Mike Commodore just confirmed on @FlamesNation Barn Burner Show that @WayneGretzky wanted to pump up Team Canada ahead of the Gold Medal Game vs Team USA but the President of @HockeyCanada Katherine Henderson said you aren’t welcome inside the locker room.
Wow, unreal. Hockey Canada is broken.