Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl just got the ultimate verdict from The Athletic

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do not need to play another shift to secure their place in Toronto.

That is the message coming out of The Athletic this week, which named both Oilers stars as certified Hockey Hall of Fame locks, and around Edmonton the reaction has mostly been a shrug and a nod, because everyone already knew this.

This kind of recognition usually arrives quietly, buried in some end of season notebook, but this time it landed with enough weight that fans started sharing it everywhere within minutes.

McDavid has spent a decade rewriting what a modern center can do.

Five scoring titles before turning thirty, three Hart trophies, a Conn Smythe, and a sprint to one thousand points faster than almost anyone in league history.

Numbers like that do not leave room for debate. Voters do not wait around wondering if a player of his caliber belongs, they simply mark the box the moment his career winds down.

Then again, McDavid is not walking away anytime soon, which is part of what makes this whole conversation fun rather than nostalgic.

He is still adding to a resume that was already bulletproof five years ago.

Draisaitl used to get filed under the McDavid effect, the brilliant winger who benefited from sharing a line with a generational talent.

That framing has aged badly. A Hart Trophy of his own, a Rocket Richard, back to back seasons pushing past one hundred points without McDavid healthy for long stretches, and a legacy as the best German player the sport has ever produced.

The Athletic is simply catching up to what Oilers fans have been saying for years.

Together they give Edmonton something rare, two locks from the same era, same team, same jersey, both destined for the same wall in the same building.

Whether either one gets there with a Stanley Cup attached is still the only real question left.

Neither has hoisted it yet, and until one of them does, the debate over who is truly the best of this era will keep going.

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