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The McDavid Effect: Connor McDavid and the New Hope for Hockey

Marty Klinkenberg

3.89 · Rating details · 92 ratings · 10 reviews

Step into the streets, arenas, coffee shops, and offices of Edmonton, and witness how the arrival of a teenage hockey phenomenon is changing the city’s fortunes.

Once known as the City of Champions, Edmonton is at a crossroads. As oil prices continue to plummet, the economic outlook grows bleaker by the day. Political changes have ushered in an era of uncertainty. And, as t ...more

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Hardcover, 240 pages

Published October 11th 2016 by Simon Schuster

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Aug 17, 2017 April rated it liked it

Shelves: sports

The McDavid Effect is that I gave this book (two-star at best) three full stars.

Okay, first things first: this is a book only tangentially about Connor McDavid. It is, to a certain extent, about what Connor McDavid means to the Oilers and what the Oilers mean to Edmonton, but from the perspective of someone who isn't in the thick of it. (Or doesn't write with the passion of someone with an emotional investment, at any rate.)

Klinkenberg makes several elementary errors. For example, ATB is the Al The McDavid Effect is that I gave this book (two-star at best) three full stars.

Okay, first things first: this is a book only tangentially about Connor McDavid. It is, to a certain extent, about what Connor McDavid means to the Oilers and what the Oilers mean to Edmonton, but from the perspective of someone who isn't in the thick of it. (Or doesn't write with the passion of someone with an emotional investment, at any rate.)

Klinkenberg makes several elementary errors. For example, ATB is the Alberta Treasury Branch, not the Alberta Treasury Bank. (I'll admit I find this somewhat hilarious because ATB markets themselves as different from the other big banks, and as far as I know, are governed by different regulations.) He also says the Oilers had won the lottery three times prior to picking Connor, which is sadly false. Jersey won the lottery in 2011 (and picked Larsson ironically enough), but the old rules only allowed a team to move up 4 places in the rankings, and Jersey had been previously positioned in 8th. Granted, these are minor little annoyances, but if the main thrust of the marketing of this book is to Oilers fans, these are also things they know. To me, it shows a certain sloppiness in preparation.

The book itself is nothing special. Klinkenberg may have followed Connor around for his rookie year, but almost none of his personality is apparent. Indeed, you see more of Messier and Gretzky than you do McDavid. (And I'd bet they get more column inches as well.)

As a sort of history of the Edmonton Oilers, this book works passably well. It glosses over the terrible years, by and large, which thank God because living them was enough.

There were certain little insights into McDavid in this that I enjoyed (him talking about getting his first bank card, for example), but by and large this is a book about commercialized sports. And it's not even a great one at that.

Klinkenberg also chooses to spend a lot of time talking about Rogers Place and how wonderful it is. He talks about how it was commissioned--glossing over the fact that Katz threatened to move the team to get the extra, superfluous funding he wanted and had that backfire in his face--and all the amenities present and how everyone loves it. This is definitely the OEG PR story, but it's hardly the whole truth, or even part of the truth. I know a great many people, myself included, who do not love Rogers Place. Sitting in the upper concourse is rather like climbing Mt. Everest, with the vertigo to go with it. There aren't enough washrooms anywhere in the building (probably because OEG was more concerned about shoving merchandising stands into every available corner), Aramark can rarely keep up with demand for products (from cups to fries, they never seem to have it; probably because there's no warehouse in Rogers Place), the concourses are just as crowded as at Northlands, and the building itself is not the high point of construction Klinkenberg would have you believe. The concrete floor in Ford Hall moved during the 2017 playoffs, which should really never happen when the fall will land you in the street. In short, Klinkenberg seems more concerned with presenting Katz's views than actually trying to find out the whole picture, which makes him a lot less believable.

Klinkenberg is right about the fact that McDavid offers a beacon of hope, as evidenced by his monster 8 year/$100 million extension, but I think he largely missed the point in trying to tell a sanitized, team approved version of the tale. ...more

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Jun 23, 2018 Scott Vout rated it liked it

Shelves: books-of-2018, sports

I am a sports fan, not an Oiler's fan. I appreciate McDavid as a very good player but he is not the be all end all for me. Is there anyone better right now - Syd and Ovi maybe but he is definitely top Three and in a few short years will be the best. I am not arguing that.

this book on the other hand is not. this book is in fact about McDavid's first season and there is precious little of that in there. This book is more a history of hockey in Alberta and the old Oilers.

What it really seems like ...more

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Feb 28, 2017 John Conrad rated it liked it

I was skeptical when I picked up this book about Connor McDavid. I mean there is no doubt that this young man is a special player. I am a life long fan of the game and cannot recall seeing an ice hockey player quite like him who actually gets faster when he has the puck on his stick. I sure as heck don't! He is exciting to watch and I look forward to following the Oilers over the next few years. But a book about a 19 year old? I was pleasantly surprised to find that Marty Klinkenberg has given u ...more

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Feb 14, 2018 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hockey, non-fiction, sport, read-in-2018

Fantastic book chronicling Connor McDavid's first NHL season in Edmonton, as well as the rich and vibrant hockey history of the Alberta city. If #97 goes on to reach the great heights we all expect he will (Stanley Cup titles, Conn Smythe trophies, MVP awards and Olympic gold) Klinkenberg's work here will take on even more significance. ...more

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Jan 14, 2020 Mylie rated it liked it

3.5 stars. A bit of a puff piece at times but overall a good hockey read.

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Dec 18, 2016 Krystal rated it liked it

Shelves: arcs, review-books

This book should have really been called Edmonton's Hockey History, it talked very little about McDavid himself and all about prior hockey players that made Oilers great. It talked a lot about the upgrades to the Hockey Arena and also how they chose to relocate it. I feel like if you're going to base a book on an up and coming star you should probably make most of the book about that. Bearing that in mind, this book was in fact well written, I learned a lot about the hockey team from a city I ho ...more

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Oct 26, 2017 JK added it

This book is written by a newsprint journalist and reads like a newspaper article over 218+ pages. Very redundant and has an odd style combining stories of Edmonton restaurants (???), Edmonton Oiler stories from the past, and the story of Connor McDavid's first season. ...more

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Jan 12, 2017 Jason Reist rated it really liked it

This is a great book if you are an Oilers fan like myself. All the old stories that are told and all the history that is talked about is really cool. The excitement that is now around the team can only increase as Mcdavid matures. Can't wait to watch the Oilers play for years now. ...more

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Dec 29, 2016 Arthur M. added it

It's grammatically correct. ...more

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Dec 11, 2017 Ty Huard rated it it was amazing

Really opened my eyes. Very brave of connor to be open about his homosexual lifestyle. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be the second gay player in the NHL since brian gibbons. ...more

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