Wayne Gretzky anoints Oilers star Connor McDavid the next great one: 'He's the best player in hockey'

Connor McDavid is arguably the brightest prima successful the NHL.

The Edmonton Oilers skipper is simply a four-time NHL All-Star.

He's besides a prolific scorer, winning the Art Ross Trophy 5 times arsenic the subordinate starring the NHL successful regular-season points.

McDavid besides shares similarities with hockey fable Wayne Gretzky. McDavid and Gretzky are the lone 2 players to beryllium named the NHL MVP by unanimous vote. While Gretzky is often referred to arsenic "The Great One," helium believes McDavid is the top progressive NHL player.

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Connor McDavid, left, of the Edmonton Oilers and Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers Alumni airs for a photograph aft the Farewell To Rexall Place ceremonial aft a crippled against the Vancouver Canucks April 6, 2016, astatine Rexall Place successful Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

"No question, he's the champion subordinate successful hockey," Gretzky said during a impermanent quality connected ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show." 

"Unselfish young man. He loves playing successful Edmonton, loves being the skipper of the Oilers. Desperately wants a Stanley Cup, that's what helium wants, cares astir the most. Great for our game, large for the metropolis of Edmonton. What a year. Scored the winning extremity successful the Four Nations Cup successful overtime."

For the 2nd consecutive year, the Oilers and Florida Panthers conscionable successful the Stanley Cup Final. McDavid and the Oilers took Game 1 of the bid Wednesday night.

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The 4-3 triumph was a come-from-behind triumph for Edmonton, which was down 3-1 astatine 1 constituent successful the game. But the Oilers scored 3 unanswered goals for a connection triumph connected their location ice.

Connor McDavid aft the 3rd play of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals successful the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs May 29, 2025, successful Dallas.  (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

After tying the crippled successful the 3rd play astatine three, an overtime play was needed to find the victor of Game 1. 

When the Oilers held a antheral advantage, McDavid capitalized by making a nifty saucer walk to teammate Leon Draisaitl, who flew successful beforehand of the nett to get the puck past Panthers' goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

Edmonton Oilers halfway Connor McDavid (97) skates past Florida Panthers halfway Brad Marchand (63) during the archetypal play successful Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final astatine Rogers Place successful Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, June 4, 2025. (Walter Tychnowicz/Imagn Images)

Gretzky, who works arsenic an NHL expert for TNT broadcasts, predicted however McDavid's assistance would acceptable up teammate Mattias Ekholm to marque what ended up being the game-tying extremity successful the 3rd play of Wednesday's matchup with the Panthers.

"They're smothering them. They're playing truly smart. They're playing the Rick Tocchet defense. They've got that guardant successful the middle," Gretzky said during the 2nd intermission. "They've fixed them the outside. Connor's going to person to instrumentality it astir the nett oregon halt up and deed the precocious guy, due to the fact that they're cutting everything disconnected going to the net."

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Gretzky past admitted his prediction was "luck," earlier praising McDavid. 

"He's the champion subordinate successful the world," Gretzky said. "He knows what he's doing. I conscionable got fortunate with that statement."

Game 2 is scheduled for Friday astatine Rogers Place successful Edmonton. The bid shifts to South Florida for Games 3 and 4.

Fox News' Scott Thompson contributed to this report.

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