Connor McDavid calls out the NHL for scheduling a game on day of Colby Cave's funeral

Edmonton Oilers’ superstar captain Connor McDavid isn’t happy with the NHL after they rescheduled an Oilers’ game on the day of the memorial for Colby Cave.

Cave was an NHL player who spent time with the Oilers and Boston Bruins before he died unexpectedly of a brain bleed at the age of 25 on April 11th, 2020. The team celebrated his life with a funeral ceremony at Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon to mark one year since his passing. The family hadn’t been able to hold a funeral yet due to the global pandemic.

The Oilers weren’t originally scheduled to play a game on this date, but the NHL rescheduled them to play due to COVID-19 complications. The Battle of Alberta game originally scheduled for May 7th got moved to Saturday April 10th due to a COVID-19 outbreak that affected the Vancouver Canucks.

The Oilers were supposed to be in Edmonton to attend Cave’s memorial, but the re-scheduling forced them to live stream the funeral from their hotel in Calgary and then play the Flames that evening.

The NHL has a tough task of figuring out a schedule with the Canucks out of action, but McDavid wasn’t happy they scheduled the Oilers to play after Cave’s memorial. The Oilers were completely lifeless and uninspired in the game, falling to Darryl Sutter’s team by a 5-0 score.

McDavid didn’t hold back when giving his opinion on the NHL scheduling in his post-game presser.

“You’d like the NHL maybe to think that one through a little bit,” said McDavid. “I don’t want to make excuses. We weren’t a good enough team. They were better than us. But I think you’re asking a lot from guys to sit through something like that and remember your teammate and see what they’re going through..the whole family and expect to perform that night. I’m not sure what the league was really thinking there but…”

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The NHL is in a very unfortunate situation trying to schedule a season during a global pandemic, but you have to feel for all the Oilers who had to take the ice hours after sitting through an emotional memorial for their former teammate.