Joseph ‘told you so’ on McDavid

For all ye remaining Connor Mc David doubters out there, Curtis Joseph predicted this teen would one day crush his cynics.

‘I told you so, didn’t I,” the former NHL goaltender said on Friday. “I told you over a year ago that, no matter how much hype there has been surrounding this kid, he has always exceeded it at every level he’s been at.”

That’s right, Cujo. You did. And you were right.

For Joseph, the fact that the young Edmonton Oilers phenom has taken the NHL by storm with 24 points in his first 19 pro games is hardly a shock.

Not at all. Having become a friend and mentor to Connor and his family a long time ago when his son Tristen and McDavid were linemates in both hockey and lacrosse in the Newmarket area, Joseph has seen this generational talent humiliate plenty of opponents along the way like he did to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

So, for that matter, has Kris Knoblauch, McDavid’s longtime Ontario Hockey League coach with the Erie Otters.

Other than McDavid’s father, Brian, perhaps no two men have played a more influential role in the teen phenom’s hockey life than Joseph and Knoblauch.

In Joseph, McDavid had a life mentor, an NHL star who had played for Connor’s beloved Leafs. Watching Cujo interact with fans at various minor-hockey rinks, McDavid admits he learned how to treat people with politeness and respect, no matter how famous you might be.

In Knoblauch, McDavid had a teacher who oversaw a journey that started when Connor was a 15-yearold kid and rocketed to the point where he was the overwhelming consensus first overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Few people in this world know what Connor McDavid is capable of more than Curtis Joseph and Kris Knoblauch. As such, while even the staunchest McDavid supporters had to be impressed with the flair with which Edmonton’s No. 97 shredded the visiting Leafs for five points in a 5-2 victory on Thursday — a performance that had the entire league buzzing — Knoblauch and Joseph were not caught off-guard in the least.

Keep this in mind: This is a teenager who only recently returned from a threemonth absence with a crack in his clavicle.

“No, I’m not surprised,” Knoblauch said Friday from Erie, Pa. “I saw him come back last year from his hand injury. When he was injured, he was the league’s best player. When he came back, he was even better.

“You’ve seen it in the NHL this year. He came back from his injury and scored what might be possibly be the goal of the year (against Columbus). Then, a few games later, he has the game he did against the Leafs. Obviously it was emotional, playing against the team he cheered for most of his life. That probably was pretty exciting for him.

“And the thing about Connor: when things are on the line and the more important the game, the higher he elevates his game.”

In wowing even the most avid of naysayers with his dismantling of Toronto, McDavid showed the type of unselfishness that Knoblauch was quite familiar with during their time together with the Otters. Rather than try to boost his own goal total as the clock ticked down toward the final buzzer, McDavid continuously attempted to set up linemate Jordan Eberle for his first NHL hat- trick, something that did end up coming to fruition when all was said and done.

“He just wants to be one of the guys,” Knoblauch said. “I think he doesn’t like the spotlight. I saw that when I joined the team when he was 15 years old. He had been granted exceptional status and was one of our best players, but he didn’t want that recognition. He just wanted to be a regular teammate and not have special attention.

“And now, it might be similar with the Edmonton Oilers, wanting to play well and trying to be the best player every night but not wanting the accolades all the time of being the best player.

“I just think he’s a teamfirst player all the time. He wants his friends on the team to get the recognition they deserve.”

Asked what McDavid’s ceiling might be, Knoblauch didn’t have an answer.

“I saw his best in the playoffs against Sault St. Marie l ast spring when he had something like 20, 21 points in a six-game series,” he said. “He’s only continuing to get better, playing with better players.”

When McDavid was a boy, he spent plenty of afternoons skating at the customized rink that Cujo had constructed inside a barn on his former ranch near King City, Ont. At that time, Joseph — who had faced hockey legends like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux during his illustrious career — could already tell this kid was special.

“You just knew,” Joseph said.

And Joseph knows something else, too.

“He’s going to have a few more five-point games,” Cujo predicted.