This week Paul Chapman and Mike Traikos look at Connor McDavid coming up second-best once again in a meeting with Sidney Crosby.

In his fourth NHL season Crosby won the Stanley Cup, having made the final in his third year. In this, his fourth season, McDavid is falling further away from making the playoffs, his GM and coach have been fired and it’s fair to ask if McDavid will have the stomach for a full-blown, start-from-scratch rebuild.

Will he want to leave the Oilers?

In the second period talk turns to the playoff races and how weak the teams in the west are fighting, or really jostling lightly, for the final playoff spots. Mike relays what Canucks General Manager Jim Benning told him this week about the team’s thoughts headed into the trade deadline and into the stretch drive.

In the final period Mike tells us what he’s hearing from general managers about the trade deadline. Who is most likely to make a deal? Which team is in the most precarious position headed into the deadline and will the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals be able to just flick a switch when the playoffs arrive?