Hi dem! Love the Olympics era, so fun reading the world building expand and the new characters. It made me think though, how other subs see Connor in this world. The prev chapter made me think how nice it is that Connor finally has some community and how it could have been if he had other player subs he could have bonded with when he presented.
But then, what about other subs when they presented after Connor? Nobody ever hit up Connor for some advice, or some commemoration? Was it because of Connor's attitude towards being a sub? Was if off-putting to other subs? It seems like as soon as Connor barely had a conversation about being a sub, Mack latched on immediately. So it seems to me nobody dared to bring it up to him?
Also, this part in the prev chapter:
“Is this a super secret exclusive team meeting?” Harls drawls out. He’s smiling, but there’s something a little unpleasant in his undertone.
“Uh, kind of,” Connor says.
Harls’ eyebrows shoot up. “Oh. Alright then.” The edge to his voice is gone, tone flattened out completely."
What was going on in Harl's mind?
Okay anon, I can NOW REPLY TO THIS! I had considered much of this over the course of the story, but because of Connor's pretty serious isolation, it wasn't super visible outside of glimpses through media encounters and the absence of other subs in the league in Connor's social circle.
I hope you enjoyed Harls' perspective on things in chapter 40. I love that this is where your brain went. Connor's a good few years older than Harls - my list of subs drafted (which is just background notes for me, if things get expanded I'm not holding myself/anyone to this list, but there were reasons for my selections):
Connor McDavid (2015) - Oilers (CAN)
[Nolan Patrick (2017) - Flyers] (CAN)
Thomas Harley (2019) - Stars (CAN)
Arturs Silovs (2019) - Pens (LAT)
Tim Stutzle (2020) - Sens (GER)
Aatu Räty (2021) - Islanders → Canucks (FIN)
William Eklund (2021) - Sharks (SWE) [wait I think I changed my mind on him and was gonna stick in a second Hab instead hm]
Lane Hutson (2022) - Habs (USA)
Ryan Leonard (2023) - Caps (USA)
Macklin Celebrini (2024) - Sharks (CAN)
Matvei Michkov (2024) - Flyers (RUS)
Brandon Bussi (undrafted) - Canes (USA)
So Harls, while being the next "oldest draft class" sub still playing (Pattyyyyy) along with Silvos (goalies never count), is four years younger than Connor, so wouldn't have socially overlapped with him a lot along with being... put off by Connor never ever ever talking about it. There's a line somewhere about how Connor "rewarded" himself with not engaging with the media on any "Sub in the NHL" stories after the Oilers made the playoffs the first time in 2017 - two whole years before Harley was even drafted! So yeah, Harls came up as a sub through the OHL then AHL watching Connor do... fuck all to help him out. Resentment seemed natural. :/
(ETA: In that scene Harley is basically assuming 'no way would McDavid ever sit down and talk to the rest of us subs AS a sub' so he's pretty surprised when that is what's happening.)
I think Mack was more willing to broach it because he's also Weird About Being A Sub and maybe didn't ping Connor's public behaviour as weird either. Plus they have more in common hockey-wise than him and Harley, so I think he felt a lot of kinship with Connor (more in this universe than in the real one!). Being a good deal younger and there being more subs in between them might have also made Connor not reaching out seem less pointed than it did to Harley.
