If you believe the hype- and this column, in essence, is more of it - Connor McDavid is going to be hockey's most famous name in about the time it would take Sidney Crosby to make one rink-length dash.
Sid the Kid? Sorry, but he's so 2010. Connor McDavid is the new Kid. The Real Kid.
He's only 16, so the National Hockey League can't draft him this summer. He has to wait until the summer of 2015 before finding out what sad-sack team will have the honour of having McDavid lead them to hockey's promised land. And a few Stanley Cups, of course, just like Bobby Orr did with the Boston Bruins, like Wayne Gretzky did for the Edmonton Oilers and what Sid the What'shisname did for Pittsburgh Penguins.
Canadian hockey fans had probably heard a little of the McDavid hype prior to the World Junior championship, but while he didn't dominate as Gretzky did at the worlds when he was 16, McDavid was still one of Canada's top forwards - at age 16! - and the phenom hype moved to a new level.
Afforded 'exceptional' status and allowed to play in the Ontario Hockey League last year at the age of 15, McDavid racked up 25 goals and 66 points. Now 16, an age at which most junior players are lucky to get two shifts a period, he is among the scoring leaders in the OHL, sitting among the top 10 scorers and sparking his team, the Erie Otters, to a runaway lead in the standings.
McDavid's management team has hired former NHLer Dave Gagner (father of the Oilers' Sam) to help with the Newmarket, Ont., player's development. "Working with Connor is like working with Pat (Kane) in that you don't really teach them anything, not with their skill sets," Gagner told Sportsnet Magazine.
McDavid is 10 years Crosby's junior, so when the younger phenom hits the league at 18, Sid the Old Guy will be 28 - in the prime, or perhaps starting on the downside, of his exceptional career. McDavid will be ready to assume the responsibility of being the face of the NHL.
Finishing with the poorest record in the NHL next year won't guarantee having the No. 1 pick in the draft, but it will give that team a few extra opportunities to succeed in the lottery and win the McDavid Sweepstakes. For a team like, say, the Winnipeg Jets, it could be a franchise-changing development. Just ask the fans in Pittsburgh.
A reader of Scott Ostler's column in the San Francisco Chronicle says baseball should reconsider the playing of 'God Bless America.' Said Ostler: "Good point. If the Blue Jays are playing, aren't we asking God to take sides?"
Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald: "Five NBA games aired on TV over 12.5 hours on Christmas Day. The highlight was when a team of elves defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, 85-83."
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: "On Christmas Eve, TSN presented the top 100 bloopers of 2013. But enough about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers."
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: "If it is better to give than receive, then this year the Detroit Lions are the best team in the NFL."
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: "Detroit Lions season-ticket holders received useless playoff tickets in the mail less than 24 hours after their team was eliminated from postseason play. Unless Justin Bieber retracts his vow to quit singing, it doesn't get much more cruel than that."
Rick Reilly of espn.com: (Peyton) Manning's 55 passing TDs record might last longer than landfill Styrofoam."
Bob Molinaro of hamptonroads.com, Hampton, Va.: "It's hard to make the case that we're evolving as a species when more than 100,000 pay to sit in frigid Michigan Stadium for a hockey game. Who told the approximately 80,000 who couldn't see the puck what happened?"
Molinaro again: "Next season, let's merge the Beef O'Brady Bowl with the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It may not make for a more interesting game, but it gives the appearance of a better-balanced meal."
Dickson again: "NHL player Travis Zajac scored a game-winning goal when the puck deflected off his face. I'll enter into evidence item No. 1,000 that hockey players are probably our toughest athletes."
Another one from RJ Currie: "It was reportedly -53 C with wind chill when the Winnipeg Jets hosted Buffalo on New Year's Eve. MTS Centre hasn't seen cold like that since the Olympic curling trials when Kevin Martin shook hands with John Morris."
Headline at Fark.com: "Chicago Bears give the rest of the NFC North a late Christmas present, re-sign Jay Cutler to a seven-year contract."
Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press on Twitter: "I'm not saying Peyton Manning is having a good season, but I think the Broncos just released their punter."
Another Twitter crack from Turner, on Zdeno Chara, the Boston Bruins' 6-foot-9 defenceman: "Chara talking to a referee looks like a giraffe talking to a zebra."
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