Caps Fans Are Going To Love Connor McMichael

I’m not a psychic. I don’t own a crystal ball, or even a magic 8 ball — I don’t talk to dead people and I can’t look at your palms and tell you if you’re going to win the lottery next week, or how many kids you’re going to have, or if your husband is indeed banging his secretary. But there is one aspect of the future which I feel I can predict, and predict with great certainty — Caps fans, you are going to absolutely LOVE Connor McMichael whenever he gets to Washington.

Now, as a Canadian, I’ve watched McMichael closely as he played for Team Canada in these last two World Junior Championships. And here’s what I’ve seen from the kid:

In last year’s tournament, McMichael – then an 18-year-old and fresh off of being drafted in the 1st Round (#25 overall) by your Washington Capitals – made the team supposedly as a fourth liner on a stacked Canadian roster. However, he was quickly bumped up in the lineup as Canada ran into some injury trouble. Dale Hunter was Team Canada’s head coach in last year’s tournament, and with Hunter coaching McMichael with the London Knights of the OHL, Hunter already had a lot of familiarity and confidence in the Caps’ prospect. In fact, word on the street is that the Caps had called Hunter – their former player AND former coach – to get his opinion on McMichael before drafting him at #25 overall. It seems to have been a fabulous choice, but we’ll get to that.

Hunter promoted McMichael to the top of Canada’s lineup after Alexis Lafreniere went down with an injury, and the move immediately paid dividends. McMichael was one of Canada’s best (and certainly most clutch) players in the tournament, scoring 5 goals and 7 points in 7 games and helping Canada to win the gold medal. Many – if not all – of his 5 goals were of the ‘huge’ variety, coming at times when Canada was trailing and needed a spark. It felt like anytime Canada needed a goal, Hunter would put McMichael on the ice and boom — the red light was turning on.

But McMichael getting better and better with more responsibility isn’t a new thing. He’s been one of the most improved players from that 2019 NHL draft so far, consistently getting way better to the point that if that draft were to be redone today, he’d probably be a top-10 pick. He’s clearly surpassed a number of the players who were drafted ahead of him, including the Pittsburgh Penguins’ selection at #21 overall – forward Samuel Poulin – who was cut from Team Canada’s roster this year.

The point is — McMichael’s been on one hell of an upward trend since he was drafted by the Caps in 2019. He’s done it everywhere — both in London of the OHL and at the World Juniors. In London for example, the year that the Caps drafted him (2018-2019 season) he had 36 goals and 72 points in 67 games. He was also a +15. Pretty good stats, right? Well, hold onto your beer. Because for the 2019-2020 season, he put up a ridiculous 47 goals and 102 points — in just 52 games. And he was +32.

His World Juniors stats also improved this year, as he finished 7th in the tournament in scoring with 8 points in 7 games — outscoring many of the guys who were picked ahead of him in that 2019 draft. He was also a +8, and was 3rd in the tournament in shots on goal, with 27.

Look — all I’m saying is that there’s a reason why he is always every coach’s first choice to move up in the lineup when somebody goes down injured. There’s a reason why he’s always the first guy every coach is tapping on the shoulder to get out on the ice when their team needs a goal. The kid is clutch. He scores big goals. He’s been to two World Junior tournaments now and he’s got one gold medal and one silver. And frankly, he was the only Canadian player who played well in Tuesday night’s gold medal loss to the United States. McMichael was all over the ice – yet again – making things happen for his team. I think he had about 75% of Canada’s scoring chances in the game — it’s just a shame that all of his teammates forgot their game at the hotel. But I was encouraged to see McMichael play well again in yet another big game. I haven’t seen a ‘big game’ yet where he isn’t the best – or one of the best – players on the ice. That’s a very good sign for the Caps. And with this year’s Team Canada having featured a ridiculous 20 (!) 1st Round picks – including every single forward on the team – it’s a good clue as to how high McMichael’s ceiling really is when there’s all of that talent out there and yet he’s still one of the best players, on one of the best teams, playing on the top line.

And for those Caps fans who maybe haven’t had the pleasure of seeing McMichael play yet — I’ll end this with a quick scouting report for y’all. He’s a natural center, who can clearly play the wing very effectively as well. He’s 6’0″, and 187 pounds — and he plays a lot bigger than his frame (he’s very TJ Oshie-like in that sense). He frequently brings the energy with a big hit. He’s fast. We’ve already talked a lot about his offense, but to sum up — he’s got a sick shot (hence the 47 goals in 52 games), he’s very creative with the puck, and he’s a slick passer with great vision (I actually caught myself comparing him to Nicklas Backstrom more than a few times during this WJC tournament). And something we hadn’t yet talked about – and one of the reasons why I believe he is very much ready for the NHL, moreso than a lot of guys his age – is how phenomenal he is on the defensive side of the puck, especially for such an offensively gifted player. He’s very Nicklas Backstrom-like in that way, too. He really impressed me throughout the tournament with how he was always instinctively in the right spot, always covering the right areas on defense, and he’s very Mark Stone-like in that he scores a ton of takeaways with a slick stick. He was pick-pocketing guys all tournament. He made a number of impressive shot blocks, too — and a number of those led to a quick turnaround and a goal for Canada.

So overall — he’s a hell of a player. Gifted on offense, impressively responsible on defense, and clearly has leadership qualities as well. One of the moments I loved from this tournament was when he pulled an Ovechkin and ‘called his shot’ pre-game, telling his teammates that he was going to score today VS. rival Russia and that no one could stop him. And sure enough, the kid scored a few hours later, Canada’s 2nd goal in a 5-0 Semifinal win over Russia.

So maybe McMichael is the psychic.

Either that, or he’s just a damn good hockey player and a cool, calm, confident personality who Caps fans are going to love.