Connor McDavid stands in the middle of the locker room.
The Edmonton Oilers captain’s voice rises as he emphatically calls on teammates to give more. His passionate, expletive-laden message — a side rarely, if ever, seen publicly from the superstar centre — reflects the level of urgency in his team’s Stanley Cup quest.
Edmonton has just lost Game 2 of the final to fall behind the Florida Panthers 2-0 in the title series.
“Not (expletive) good enough,” McDavid says in a tirade that includes 14 f-bombs in 45 seconds.
A camera was there to capture the moment — albeit one partially obstructed by an Oilers staff member holding up a black curtain — and plenty more across the NHL last season.
The six-part “FACEOFF: Inside the NHL” docuseries debuts Friday, a behind-the-scenes sports showcase from Prime Video.
McDavid’s group would indeed “dig in” as he implored, battling back from a 3-0 deficit to force Game 7 in a memorable series with massive momentum swings, but ultimately fell short in a slugfest that ended in tears in the bowels of Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena last June.
“It’s so (expletive) hard,” a member of the Oilers says in the raw, immediate aftermath before the cameras are ordered to leave following the gut-wrenching loss.
Unlike past NHL reality endeavours that largely focused on teams, this show aims to bring viewers closer to hockey’s stars on and off the ice than ever before.
McDavid and a pair of teammates, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, feature prominently. The same goes for Toronto Maple Leafs star William Nylander, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, Boston Bruins sniper David Pastrnak, Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk and a host of other big names.
“You’re getting a series that, for the first time, probably has buy-in from everyone,” Hyman said in a recent interview. “Everybody wants to open the doors and show you what’s under the hood, which has not really been done before.”
The players have seen their episodes — an Amazon project in conjunction with Box to Box Films, the company behind a long list of all-access sports series, including Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” — but Hyman doesn’t think he will ever watch the finale.
“You lived through it,” he said. “It’ll be really interesting for fans to see an inside look into what it’s like to go through that journey and to ultimately fall just short.
“Pretty devastating … and the cameras have access to all of that.”
NHL players have historically guarded their privacy, but Hyman said the goal was to show the personalities and life at home in an effort to entertain established fans and attract new ones.
“I hope that for newcomers to the sport, they’ll have an appreciation for how difficult it is to win a Stanley Cup,” Hyman said. “How guys react with their team, how teammates react on the bench, different elements that are really interesting. Hopefully it encourages new people to come in and to actually watch this upcoming season.
“And then for hockey fans, it gives you another layer to understand what’s really happening behind the scenes and appreciate the game even more.”
Hughes said his only worry about the series, which came together quickly following February’s NHL all-star game, was it being a distraction for teammates.
Those concerns put to rest, he was all-in.
“When I heard the other guys that were doing, it’s like, ‘How am I going to say no?’” said Hughes, whose episode is shared with Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and New York Rangers counterpart Jacob Trouba. “It’s cool to put yourself out there and try different things.”
Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg said he never watched F1 racing until “Drive to Survive.” Now hooked, he expects the NHL’s plunge will attract similar uninitiated audiences.
“We live a phenomenal life, don’t get me wrong,” said Forsberg, who shared his episode with Vegas Golden Knights centre Jack Eichel. “But there’s also a big grind.”
Hyman said learning about athletes away from their crafts has similarly drawn him to other all-access series.
“You get to see who people really are,” he said. “It may not be the whole picture — you may be getting a version of that person — but at least you get a little bit more.”
Hyman added that while the series zeroes in on individuals, hockey’s team aspect plays a prominent role.
“A lot of it’s focused on (McDavid),” he said of the two episodes featuring Edmonton. “You’re watching his journey through the playoffs, but it’s ultimately our team’s journey.”
Including those electric, painful and soul-revealing moments in the final.
“There was no holding back,” Hyman said. “You guys are going to see what it was like post-Game 7, what it was like during different parts of the series. As a fan, it’s a roller-coaster. As a player, when you’re in it, it’s emotionally a difficult journey.
“To come up short was really hard.”
Viewers are poised to get a front-row seat.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.
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