from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

A back-to-back Art Ross winner, McDavid spent a summer listening to what everyone employed by this organization heard. Some variation on the theme of, “What the heck happened to you guys last season?”

Of course, the Oilers rebuild started so long ago. If it were a child, it would be in Pee Wee hockey. Maybe even Bantam. But McDavid has only been here for three years. He doesn’t own all that previous grief, just the fall-on-their-faces season that was 2017-18.

“We definitely get a sense from the fans and the media, and we’re just as eager as (they) are, inside the room. We want to get this thing going, get moving in the right direction,” McDavid said. “Put last year to rest and stop having to talk about it. Having to answer questions about it.”

Ask McDavid about being faster or better this season, and you don’t get much: “My fitness is right where it’s always been. I’m not a guy who will blow the bench press out of the water, but I’m a fit guy.”

But, during the week prior to the opening of camp, word was filtering back from players and coaches. McDavid, for the first time starting an NHL season able to buy a beer in the United States, is getting even better at age 21....

“We were just saying, a small group of us, at one point or another he’s going to do something special. We’ve got to pull our rope and be part of that,” said Strome, Edmonton’s third-line centre. “It’s like if you get to play with a Crosby or a Malkin. We’ve got to pull our rope and do our part in getting us all there.”

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