If you watched the Paris Olympics you can understand why mcdavid is unknown and the nhl is losing ground. Star power, drama and pop culture is what sells . Why the nhl and hockey players can’t figure this out is beyond me.
There's nothing to "figure out". If you want big personalities and/or embarrassing memes like the Australian break dancing lady, hockey isn't going to be the sport for you.
A lot of the "popular" US athletes are grandfathered in from past decades of marketing too ... yeah you know Steph Curry and LeBron James (who's been playing for 20 freaking years). How many people know any of the US basketball "stars" that are McDavid's age? Anyone know Anthony Edwards that aren't big basketball fans?
The most talked about Olympics stars otherwise were all "meme" athletes, the Turkish guy who looked like he just walked off the street corner to compete, the Australian break dancing lady who embarrassed herself, and the Algerian boxer who was in the middle of a gender row. How exactly do you propose hockey players get in on that?