Connor McDavid has spent his entire career with the Edmonton Oilers trying to bring a Stanley Cup back to Canada. So when the conversation turned to the growing number of American stars heading the other way, he had a fairly direct explanation for it.
The trend is hard to ignore. Brady Tkachuk forced his way out of Ottawa to Florida in July. Connor Hellebuyck made his trade request from Winnipeg public in August. Quinn Hughes was dealt out of Vancouver last season after telling the team he wouldn’t re-sign, and Matthew Tkachuk forced a trade out of Calgary a few years before that. All of them are American, and no Canadian team has won the Cup since Montreal in 1993.
Connor McDavid on Americans
Asked about it on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast during the NHL’s Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, McDavid pushed back on the idea that the country itself is the problem.
“I don’t know if it’s Americans wanting to leave Canada or if it’s simply just they don’t see the opportunity to win on that specific team,” McDavid said, per Sportsnet.
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He pointed to his own dressing room as evidence, naming two American forwards who have recently chosen Edmonton – Ryan Shea, who signed with the Oilers in July, and Trent Frederic, who arrived in a 2025 trade and signed an extension that summer.
“Americans still want to play in Canada. At least, that’s the sense that I get,” McDavid said. “But they want to play for teams where they see a future. I don’t know anyone’s situation or opinions and how they feel about their specific team, but maybe that’s it.”
McDavid then added a broader thought on the relationship between the two countries, which has grown noticeably frostier at a political level over the past year.
“I hope it’s not the Americans not wanting to be in Canada,” he said. “Canada and the U.S. have had a great relationship for years and years and years, and I hope that continues for a long time.”
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