McDavid ready to captain the Oilers: Gretzky

Great One has ‘a great deal of respect for him’

He was 22 years when he was named captain. He had already played four seasons in the NHL, was a four-time league MVP, three- time scoring champion and had broken ( and in some cases broken again) the record for goals, assists and points in a season.

In other words, Wayne Gretzky was already The Great One by the time the Edmonton Oilers finally gave him the “C.”

Connor McDavid has done none of those things. Not yet, anyway. But Gretzky, who said the rookie is “the best player to come into the league in the last 30 years,” believes the Oilers should not delay the inevitable.

If the team is saving the vacant captaincy for him, what difference does it make if he gets it when he is 19 or 22?

“I have a great deal of respect for him. In my point of view, I think he’s mature enough that he can handle it at any age,” Gretzky said in a phone interview from Montreal on Thursday, before flying to Plaster Rock, N. B., for the World Pond Hockey Championships, where he was promoting Budweiser Canada’s 20-foot goal light.

“I think that the best players in the game, the best athletes in their particular sport, are guys that want that pressure. They want that demand put on them. No question, he understands who he is and the focus and everything that is bestowed upon him.”

Colorado’ s Gabriel Landeskog was 19 years old when he became the NHL’s youngest captain in his second season. Crosby was also 19 when he received the “C” and the next season led the Penguins to the Cup final, while Chicago’s Jonathan Toews was 20 and in his second season as captain when he won a Stanley Cup.

Gretzky won his first Cup the season he was named captain, but said he could not have handled the demands without the help of Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe and Paul Coffey, whom he leaned on for leadership. Maybe the Oilers have that in Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent- Hopkins. Maybe some of those players will not even be part of the team when next season begins.

Either way, Gretzky and the Oilers were much further along than this year’s team.

“I remember when I took the ‘C’ I felt very comfortable at that point in my career and my life,” said Gretzky. “But I also knew that in the locker room I had a tremendous amount of guidance with people like Lee Fogolin and of course Mark Messier and Kevin Lowe and Paul Coffey. So it wasn’t so much on me to stand up and take charge of the room. That didn’t have to happen.”

While McDavid has made a splash with 28 points in 24 games after missing three months with a broken clavicle, he and the Oilers are still finding their way in the league. The team, which headed into Thursday’ s nights NHL games tied for last place overall, is more than likely going to miss the playoffs for the 10th straight season and could end up with a fifth No. 1 pick in the last seven years.

If anything, expectations are going to increase even more for a team that has been perpetually rebuilding with nothing but new prospects to show for it.

“A lot is going to depend on the locker-room and what happens there,” said Gretzky, who believes the Oilers and the Calgary Flames are capable of taking that next step.

“If you look at both organizations, they’re both building from within and they’re young and they’re hungry and very talented. I think the future is bright and it is exciting.

“You can build your teams around Connor McDavid in Edmonton or Sam Bennett in Calgary, so I think both teams are definitely are going to be teams to watch next year.”

Already, Gretzky said the Oilers have become mustwatch TV. He was taken back to t he 1980s when McDavid exploded for five points against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 11 and he has been impressed at just how dominant and consistent McDavid has been since coming back from injury.

But mostly, in a league where scoring is down and defensive systems are choki ng away t he creativity, Gretzky has enjoyed watching what the teenager can do with the puck.

“I think very highly of him,” said Gretzky. “We don’t have the same type of creativity as a whole that we used to have. We have it in spurts with guys like (Sidney) Crosby and ( Alex) Ovechkin and Connor McDavid and of course Patrick Kane and guys like that. But on an overall basis we don’t have that same creativity and offensive imagination anymore.

“That’s what separates the superstars from the stars. Those are the guys that make it fun to watch.”