If NHL Was Like NBA, Connor McDavid Would Be On Toronto Maple Leafs

If the NHL was ran similarly to the NBA, superstar Connor McDavid would have requested a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs by now.

Fortunately for Edmonton Oilers fans, the NHL is a more loyal league and isn’t ran by the players. Instead, playing for one team for an entire career is cherished and something every player hopes to do.

Although there are many examples of players switching teams, the superstars usually stay true to their roots. Whether, its Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin, Carey Price, Steven Stamkos or the Sedin twins, all of these players continued to play for the team that drafted them.

That may have been a great personal decision for some, but it doesn’t always translate into winning. Comparatively, the NBA features much more player movement. The best players in the world move regularly and try to win in a different area code, where it’s easier to recruit other superstars.

LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard are all players who have won the NBA MVP or NBA Finals MVP and moved on from the team that drafted them. In fact, all four of these players have now played with at least three different franchises.

Imagine Sidney Crosby winning a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh, then moving to Montreal and then going to New York? It seems unfathomable in the NHL, but this is happening yearly in the NBA.

McDavid Could Be On Leafs If He Wanted To

Superstars in the NBA typically take shorter contracts so they can move more frequently, but even those who have a long-term deal can get traded at their request.  Although McDavid has five years left on his deal, any other team would happily find a way to get him on their roster, if he requested a trade out of Edmonton.

Harden wanted out of the Houston Rockets organization and essentially made them trade him to Brooklyn; the team he wanted to play for. If McDavid wanted out of Edmonton, he could easily convince them to only trade him to Toronto.

After the Leafs shutout the Oilers in two straight games, McDavid has to be frustrated. Toronto was without Auston Matthews, played their second and third-string goaltender and still beat the Oilers. Over the past six seasons that he has been in Edmonton, his team has continued to underachieve.

They’re bound to make the playoffs at this rate, but it doesn’t look pretty. If McDavid or Leon Draisaitl are held off the scoresheet, the Oilers have zero depth scoring to back him up. It’s unfortunate that the NHL isn’t like the NBA, because the Leafs would clear all of the cap space needed to put Mitch Marner, Matthews and McDavid together.

McDavid hasn’t said that he wants to play for the Leafs at any point in his career, but he was clearly frustrated when they missed out on him during the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery. Not only that, but he’s a local-guy from Newmarket, ON and every kid from that area dreams of winning a Stanley Cup in Toronto.

The NBA has super-teams every season and it’s incredibly exciting to watch. Although the NHL has produced many spectacular duos over the years, it typically only happens through drafting and developing and rarely through blockbuster trades.

The NHL could learn a thing or two from the NBA’s player empowerment movement because watching superstars flip teams regularly would make this league way more exciting. Especially if it meant McDavid coming home and playing for the Leafs.