Colorado's Erik Johnson and Nazem Kadri spoke about the 'best-on-best' matchup between Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in the Stanley Cup Western conference finals.

Video Transcript

INTERVIEWER: Erik, you've been able to play some great players throughout your career. Where is maybe Connor McDavid on that list, and what makes him such a great player?

ERIK JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, right up there, for sure. Those guys, those great players are always going to find a way to get their chances, and I think the difficult part is just limiting how many they're going to get. They're going to find their grade A's, and that's just what the great players do. They're always going to find a way to make a great play, and you just have to limit how many they're going to get.

But he's right up there with the best, for sure. He's a handful. I mean, I think I saw a stat the other day that, when Crosby won the [? consummate, ?] he had like 20 points in 20 games or something, and McDavid already has 26 or something like that. So it just shows how he's on another level right now. So it'll be a big challenge.

I'm sure it's the dream match-up that the league wanted. Right? I think in the West for sure, two of the best players in the league going at it, two of the fastest players, just two of the most highly skilled guys that you could really pick out of the league. And I think it's great for hockey.

I think it's great for the fans, and it's great for both teams. Both teams haven't been to the Conference Finals in a while. So it's exciting, and I think we're excited to be a part of it as well. When you can have best on best, that's just the best that you could hope for. As a player, that's what you want.

NAZEM KADRI: Yeah. Just to reiterate, of course, I mean, two of the best to be playing right now. I mean, I'm sure they're both-- I know they're both humble guys, and they're not going to try to make it about them. It's more of a media storyline kind of thing. But two great players, leading two great teams, so it's certainly going to be exciting. We can't wait to get started.