With ESPN set to become one of the two homes of hockey in the United States for the next seven years at the beginning of the 2021-22 season, the brand’s biggest personality, Stephen A. Smith, decided to ‘do that hockey’ on Tuesday by blasting Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers.
In his rant, Smith bashed the Oilers for getting swept by the Winnipeg Jets in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Smith was flabbergasted by the fact this happened to Edmonton considering the NHL’s leading scorer, McDavid, and second-leading scorer, Draisaitl are on the team. The ESPN star also brought up McDavid’s horrible playoff track record that includes just one series win.
Admittedly, Smith states the only thing he knows about hockey is that “the puck is black,” while also adding that he did the segment to make NHL commissioner Gary Bettman proud, but it’s hard to not to see some validity in his statement.
While it’s clear there are some major issues with how the Oilers’ roster is constructed, McDavid and Draisaitl were held pointless in Games 1 and 2. Edmonton is built around its all-world two stars, and the pair failed to produce through the first couple of contests which was a large reason why the Oilers lost each of its home games to open the series.
I’m certainly looking forward to seeing who Steven A. will have on blast next. Beware, NHL.
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