McDavid is Charles Barkley compared to Sidney Crosby but Crosby became a household name because he played in Pittsburgh, and the Penguins became a powerhouse pretty quickly. Took the Oilers almost a decade to make the finals for the first time with him. Being stuck in Edmonton is why nobody outside of hockey fans cares or knows about him, no matter how good he is.
That's why it's also on the player, as well as the NHL and team. But, you can only market someone who is truly comfortable being in the limelight.
He looks like he just started a job as a pool boy for an old lady predator and he isn't sure why she keeps wanting to take his picture shirtless.Connor will never possess this magnetism
Thankfully the NHL doesn’t rig drafts, like you suggest other leagues would do.
If McDavid had a freakishly wide neck like Trout maybe he’d be more popular
The average random ass person outside of Canada doesn't know who Sidney Crosby is.
Well, is Matthews that well known? He's even an American player playing in one of the biggest NHL markets and I can tell you with certainty that there's plenty of people I know who aren't NHL fans who have no idea who he is in America. I didn't poll the rest of Americans but I'm pretty sure that Matthews is relatively low on the popularity scale in the states.
Messi plays the world's most famous sport. That helps.
Over the years NBC, MSPN and TNT have tried to market Matthews nationally on their broadcasts, but he and the Leafs have flopped every time. I think they’ve changed their strategy.
