Mark Messier marvels at Oilers' surge after disastrous start – Winnipeg Free Press

Mark Messier owns six Stanley Cup rings.

He's also been on teams where the next win never seems to come.

That's where the Edmonton Oilers have been one month into the NHL season.

The club is 2-9-1 through 12 games – 31st overall and eight points out of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Three months later, Edmonton completely flipped the script.

Despite the Vegas Golden Knights hitting a 16-game winning streak on Tuesday, one short of the league record, the Oilers are no longer a team that can't defend, can't get a save, and has trouble completing consecutive passes. .

Instead, they reverted to an adversarial narrative.

“Connor McDavid is driving that bus,” Messier said of Edmonton's superstar captain. “He has not shrunk in this focus, in this focus. He could be braver than that, and his leadership has been tested in many ways.

“He's going to come out better and a more complete player.”

Messier, who won five Cups with the Oilers and another with the New York Rangers, has been a panelist on ESPN's NHL coverage since 2021.

The Oilers, meanwhile, are back in the playoffs — the team fired head coach Jay Woodcroft in November and replaced him with Chris Knoblauch — after climbing the standings.

Messier said the last three months for McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the group should give them confidence in the process.

Now it's about repeating it over and over until June.

“You have to have an unwavering belief in yourself,” said Messier, widely regarded as hockey's greatest leader during the Hall of Fame center's 25-season NHL career. “You have to have unshakable faith in the culture you are creating in the team, in the coach. Then you have to have unwavering faith in the players around you.

“Anything less than that diminishes your chances.”

Messier said Edmonton, which reached the 2022 Western Conference finals and lost in the second round last spring, has had a rollercoaster ride this season.

“The ups and downs emotionally and physically,” the 15-time star said. “You get punched in the face in the playoffs. If you haven't experienced adversity at some point…it's a tough time to pass the test.

“They're definitely back in the conversation.”

CHIP CHECK

In addition to his television work, Messi is set to play a familiar role as a potato chip representative on Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast.

The 63-year-old was part of Lai's tongue-in-cheek ad campaign, Betcha Can't Eat Just One, which first hit TV screens in the late 1990s. The commercials featured Messier joining a beer league team called the Pylons and missing a flight to get an autograph after he couldn't eat a single chip.

Lay's new catchphrase — “Betcha can't pick just one” — revolves around the company's range of flavors.

“The commercials turned out to be really fun posts with some funny Canadian hockey terminology,” Messier said of his first Lay's game. “I'm glad to be a part of it again.”

RESPECT

Messier loved another of his former teams, the first-place Vancouver Canucks and head coach Rick Tocchet.

“When you get on a team like Rick, the first thing you have to do is galvanize him,” Messier said. “It is impossible to win with a team that is not fully coordinated, working together and pulling the ropes in the same direction.

“Looks like Rick was able to do it.”

Messier spent three difficult, playoff-less seasons in Vancouver before returning to the Rangers in 2000 to finish his career.

“(Tocchet) has held the players accountable,” he said of the coach in charge from January 2023. “He proved a lot of people wrong. He did a great job.”

BEGINNING IN CINCI

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman named Cincinnati as part of a long list of potential expansion cities during the league's All-Star festivities last week.

Messier played part of a season in Southwest Ohio in 1978-79 with the Stingers of the World Hockey Association after a five-game stint with the Indianapolis Racers.

“Awesome experience,” he said of the short stop in Cincinnati with Robbie Ftorek, Barry Melrose and Mike Gartner. “There are a lot of cities that could be great choices (for NHL expansion). Cincinnati is one of them.”

Messier also joked about the demise of the Racers and Stingers after they went out of business before the 1979 NHL-WHA merger.

“Youngest player to collect two franchises,” he said. “At 17, 18 years old – no other player has folded two franchises.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 9, 2024.

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