Connor McDavid is a lot of things.
A $100 million man. A Hart Trophy winner. A Ted Lindsay Award honoree. An Art Ross Trophy recipient. A 100-point scorer.
One thing he is not, though, is the best player in the NHL.
That's according to McDavid himself, NHL.com reported via TSN this week. The Edmonton Oilers standout and an ascending face of the league received a No. 1 ranking among NHL players in The Hockey News' annual preseason yearbook, but McDavid wouldn't back up his own standing.
"At the end of the day, everyone knows who the best player in the league is," he said, "and it's not me."
Who is it, then? McDavid, per NHL.com, suggested the real answer is too easy. The real answer, he suggested, is Sidney Crosby.
"(Sidney) finds a way to score different goals, score goals in tight, score goals in front on tips, quick shots, and that's something I kind of struggle with," he said. "So, I mean I definitely would love to find a way to score more, and he knows how to do that better than anyone."
Not exactly what you'd expect from a 20-year-old who just happens to be the sport's highest-paid player. But it's exactly what you would expect from Canadian-born McDavid, who has long downplayed his rise to prominence with humility.
Crosby isn't exactly a hard player to defend, either. The 30-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins star is fresh off his third Stanley Cup championship and second straight Conn Smythe Trophy run, and he's had no less than 36 goals in three of his last four seasons. Crosby has four of his own 100-point seasons under his belt, and he led the league in 2016-17 with 44 goals.