The stereotype of a "hockey wife" usually means one thing – someone riding along on their partner’s success. But Lauren Kyle McDavid isn’t following that playbook.
The 28-year-old married Connor McDavid last July and has been building her own business empire. She now runs five different companies and shows no signs of slowing down.
Her newest venture is Bar Trove, a small bites restaurant in downtown Edmonton. It opens this weekend, right as the Oilers make their second straight Stanley Cup Final appearance.
The timing might seem crazy, but Kyle handles pressure well.
“She comes up with an idea and she just gets after it,” Connor McDavid said.
Kyle’s businesses span interior design to publishing. Each project reflects what people closest to her see in her personality.
“She’s got a big heart. She cares about people. I think that’s why she’s gotten into the field that she has,” McDavid said. “She enjoys creating these experiences for people that she cares about and for others.”
Most newlyweds would say nice things about their partner. But with Kyle, it feels genuine.
When I visited Bar Trove to speak with her, Lenard greeted me first. He’s the McDavids’ Bernadoodle. Then came Kyle, skipping the handshake entirely.
"I’m a hugger," she said.
That emotional intelligence isn’t just a nicety. For Kyle, feeling sits at the core of what she builds. It’s become a business strength she uses across her portfolio.
“I always want to make people feel good, especially around important dates in their lives. That where it all comes into play,” Kyle said.
Early Signs
Kyle’s instinct to organize and create showed up early. Her mother Sharon Kyle remembers her daughter cutting up old dance tights and designing a hanging daybed out of a trampoline. She even renovated the guest bathroom for a school project.
"She’s always been a big thinker," Sharon said.
Her parents’ favorite story happened when Kyle was eight years old. She woke up for school and realized it was her parents’ 12th wedding anniversary.
Kyle secretly coordinated a surprise party by phone with both grandmothers. All before the morning school bell.
When her parents came home, dinner was ready and the family had gathered.
“We were shocked because she had everybody there,” Sharon said. “She had coordinated the whole menu with the grandparents, and she had the decorations up. It was pretty special.”
Kyle comes from a family of business owners. Her father Paul is an orthodontist. His father was a dentist. Kyle’s maternal grandfather owned a menswear shop in Sudbury, Ontario.
"She grew up with self-employed people as examples and grabbed on to that. She didn’t want to work for anyone else," Paul said.
“I’ve always known I wanted to work for myself,” Kyle said. “I always had the mindset that I would be some form of entrepreneur.”
Her current ventures include Kyle & Co. for interior design, Sports Club Atelier as a fashion line, and Trove Living as a furniture showroom. A cookbook arrives this fall, followed by Bar Trove.
Each business reflects her favorite textures, tones, and small details.
“I want people to walk into a space or wear something, and feel something,” Kyle said. “That’s the throughline.”
Bar Trove is designed to feel both elevated and intimate. It seats just 40 people. Kyle manufactured and designed the light fixtures herself to get the right atmosphere.
Her cookbook skips traditional categories. Instead, it’s organized by vibe – dinner party, girls’ weekend, cottage night. Each section builds around a tablescape and a feeling.
Bar Trove will feature her spicy lobster pasta, a recipe Kyle created for the book.
Her clothing brand started as a response to the lack of stylish fanwear. It quickly found a following.
“She’s got such good style,” said PWHL Seattle forward **Danielle Serdachny**, an Edmonton native who grew up as an Oilers fan. “I would pretty much purchase everything on that website if I could.”
Kyle isn’t stopping at designing clothes for Oilers fans. She plans to roll out a Canadian-branded line before the 2026 Winter Games.
Making It Happen
Vision is one thing. Kyle’s gift is execution.
“So many people just don’t follow through, and I think that’s what separates her,” McDavid said. “It’s been fun to watch her try something and then follow through and do it.”
That shows up daily in Kyle’s workplace.
“She is always doing a thousand things at once but is so driven,” said **Liv Hall**, who is a close friend and began working with Kyle in 2020. “We’ll get everything done because she makes things happen. If she wants something to happen, she’ll get on the phone, and it’ll be immediate. She doesn’t wait around.”
Her parents call it confidence. They say she’s always had it.
"She’s always approached challenges head on and basically dives in the deep end. She has that determined mindset and confidence," Paul said.
Even McDavid admits Kyle’s creativity moves at a pace he can’t always match. A few years ago, he gave her sessions with a business coach for her birthday.
“She’s a creative type. Her brain works in ways that I don’t necessarily understand. Creatives sometimes struggle with the business side of it. I know how hard she works, and I know the time and energy that she puts into it. She got her initial interior design business up and going, and that was amazing. But for her to get it to another level, she needed a little bit of help,” he said.
“It was such a thoughtful gift,” Kyle said. “Without my business coach, I definitely wouldn’t be able to have this many businesses at one time. It helped with my mindset and to grow as an entrepreneur.”
Kyle’s approach fits a broader shift in what it means to be a sports partner in the public eye. The role once stopped at support and sideline smiles. Now a new generation builds businesses, brands, and identities of their own.
From Taylor Swift bringing her impact to the NFL to Kristin Juszczyk’s fashion designs, these women aren’t simply in the frame anymore. They’re calling their own shots.
Sometimes they’re the ones who put their partners on the map.
The public might see Kyle as a stylish accessory to a superstar. But that framing doesn’t match what happens behind the scenes.
“I get a front row seat to everything she’s building,” McDavid said. “It’s amazing what she’s been able to build, and she’s only getting started.”
She may be seen as part of a hockey power couple, but Kyle’s story isn’t a subplot.
With Bar Trove’s opening, Kyle isn’t just building a brand. She’s becoming the entrepreneur she once imagined.
“For people who actually know me, this is not surprising at all,” she said. “It’s just a part of my ethos.”
Jolene Latimer is a feature writer at theScore.
