{"id":807033,"date":"2026-05-19T08:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/807033\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:22:16","slug":"avalanche-star-nathan-mackinnon-looks-like-conn-smythe-trophy-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/807033\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon looks like Conn Smythe Trophy favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathan MacKinnon is an open burn book<\/a>. Sit with him? Dude, you can\u2019t even skate with him.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to win, whether it\u2019s Oct. 7 or June 21,<\/a>\u201d Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood<\/a> told me after practice earlier this week. \u201cIt\u2019s just in his blood. He wants to produce. He wants to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s not on some giant Nate revenge tour because of the Milan Cortina Olympics?\u201d I wondered. \u201cI mean, not even a little?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see where you can maybe come to that conclusion,\u201d Wedgie continued. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think he wakes up in the morning and is like, \u2018I didn\u2019t win (Olympic) gold, so I\u2019ve got to win the Stanley Cup.\u2019 Because he\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m going to win the Cup,\u2019 no matter what.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best thing that you can probably say about Nate is (he) doesn\u2019t give a (expletive) about it. You could (have it) either way \u2014 you win the gold, but you don\u2019t win the Cup, he\u2019s (expletive) off. You win the Cup and you get silver, he\u2019s obviously happy \u2014 but he\u2019s probably still a little bit (expletive) off that he didn\u2019t win the gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s face it: Nate Dogg is more fun as a serial killer.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t get me wrong \u2014 29 is great theater all the time, must-see TV, an artiste on twin blades. But Playoff Nate is another gear of bonkers, a hero sandwich of magic and menace.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sight to behold, so long as you\u2019re watching from a safe distance. He\u2019s Popeye after the spinach, the Hulk after he\u2019s angry.<\/p>\n

Although to hear Wedgewood tell it, like Dr. Bruce Banner<\/a>, MacKinnon\u2019s always angry. The Dogg\u2019s scored a goal in six straight Cup games. In nine playoff appearances this spring, he\u2019s already piled up seven goals and 13 points.<\/p>\n

Whatever Nate wants, Nate takes. The Avs got to the Stanley Cup\u2019s Western Conference Finals, which start Wednesday against John Tortorella\u2019s Vegas Golden Knights, in just nine games. Which is even quicker than the 10 tilts, combined, it took to eliminate Nashville and St. Louis in 2022.<\/p>\n

MacKinnon\u2019s volcanic, game-tying goal of Game 5 of the Minnesota series came from roughly the same spot as the one he\u2019d missed in the gold medal game vs. Team USA in Italy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Come on, right? Talk about fate, Nate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a little daylight and just threw it there,\u201d MacKinnon said of his snipe. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t always go where you want it to.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacKinnon plays with such pace and edge and rage all the time, that it can be hard to tell where the genius ends and the ax murderer begins. But you can\u2019t convince us that Nate\u2019s Olympic heartbreak with Team Canada wasn\u2019t one of the best things to happen to the Avalanche this postseason. Or that the man still doesn\u2019t have nightmares about Tina the Stoat.<\/a><\/p>\n

Remember Tina? No? She was one of the two mascots for this past Winter Olympics. Someone handed a stuffed Tina and a silver medal to MacKinnon three months ago in Italy within minutes of one of the worst losses in his life.<\/p>\n

You could probably find both in a dumpster a short while later. Or burned to a crisp. Or floating in the Adriatic Sea. Or, more likely, some combination of all three.<\/p>\n

\"MILAN,(l-r) Shea Theodore #27 and Nathan MacKinnon #29 of Team Canada stand with their silver medals following the Men’s Gold Medal match between Canada and the United States on day 16 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Feb. 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. The United States defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt obviously would\u2019ve been awesome for all of them on the Canadian side to win it, for sure,\u201d Wedgewood continued. \u201cYeah, you could definitely probably put (that anger) in there. But I don\u2019t think he wakes up and says, \u2018I\u2019ve got to prove the haters wrong from Team Canada\u2019s situation.\u2019 \u2018I want to win with my teammates\u2019 is more valuable (to him).\u201d<\/p>\n

Mack The Knife was justifiably furious after falling short of winning gold, and took heat from both sides of the border immediately after the game.<\/a><\/p>\n

You want to shut any critics up back home this summer? Pull up to the old neighborhood in your truck with Lord Stanley riding shotgun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for those guys, their level of motivation is at an all-time high at all times,\u201d Logan O\u2019Connor told me. \u201cI don\u2019t think it motivated (MacKinnon and Cale Makar) any more than normal to go on this challenge we\u2019re going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more so \u2014 probably, obviously \u2014 that (they) came back (expletive) off not getting the result they wanted. But I think their motivation level\u2019s always on \u2018excellence\u2019 between the both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amen, brother.<\/p>\n

But that poor, poor, stuffed stoat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI laughed at it. I watched it, too,\u201d Wedgewood chuckled. \u201cBut it was just, (he\u2019d told us), \u2018You\u2019ve got to stand there for 20 minutes \u2026 (We\u2019re) like, why are we still standing out here and waiting for you to hand me a stuffed animal after I lost?\u2019 I understand the frustration. But that\u2019s who he is. He cares. And he shows it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By all means, Torts. Go on. Please. Make him angry. You wouldn\u2019t like him when he\u2019s angry.<\/a><\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan MacKinnon is an open burn book. Sit with him? Dude, you can\u2019t even skate with him. \u201cHe…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":807034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[42],"tags":[4830,273357,97351,2147,2995,34502,8665,2219,1370,92732,3663,32532,2987,69954,293,3777,111774,88628,62,2632,7010,67,132,68,328274,7184,27840],"class_list":["post-807033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-avalanche","tag-avalanche-takes","tag-cale-makar","tag-canada","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-gold-medal","tag-hockey","tag-italy","tag-latest-headlines","tag-logan-oconnor","tag-minnesota","tag-more-avalanche-news","tag-nashville","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-nhl","tag-olympics","tag-scott-wedgewood","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-stanley-cup","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vegas-knights","tag-western-conference","tag-western-conference-finals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116600278968907097","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}