Todd McLellan dreams of Connor McDavid, leaves Sharks behind

It took a startling amount of time for Connor McDavid to become a conversation topic during Todd McLellan’s introductory press conference with the Edmonton Oilers. It was like having a holiday party without acknowledging the Lamborghini Veneno wrapped under the tree.

But when he was asked about coaching the Oilers’ next franchise player … well, McLellan was like a kid on Christmas Eve.

“I have had a chance to think that. Quite regularly. Putting my head down on a pillow in Prague, I had plenty of thinking time,” said McLellan, who coached Canada to a gold medal in the IIHF world championships.

Part of that championship team was Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose brain McLellan picked about McDavid. What was it like to be “The Next One” at the top of the draft? How was the transition to the NHL? What did you need to ease it?

McLellan came away understanding that McDavid won’t need to be coddled, but would need support. “Not a protecting environment, but making sure that he’s comfortable in his surroundings,” he said.

Comfort is king for McLellan, who “mutually parted” ways as the San Jose Sharks’ coach after seven years. It wasn’t difficult to read into his comments about the future of the Oilers and glean insight into his past with the Sharks.

When he was hired in San Jose in 2008, replacing Ron Wilson, his general manager Doug Wilson has been there since 2003. Joe Thornton was a Doug Wilson acquisition. The foundation of the team was placed there by Wilson, outside of Patrick Marleau. McLellan was hired to make a Doug Wilson team work, not to necessarily create a Todd McLellan team. That dynamic would be maintained throughout his tenure.

In Edmonton, McLellan enjoys a luxury few coaches have (well, save for Willie Desjardins in Vancouver last year): the completely clean slate.

New CEO. New president and general manager. New coach.

“We’re both in it together. Brand new. We’re get to work together and create an identity,” said McLellan of GM Peter Chiarelli.

“Everyone gets a fresh start.”

That includes the players, and that’s another rare benefit for McLellan: No veteran boondoggle contracts that bring imbalance to the locker room and problems between the generations of players.

In theory, said McLellan, “you’ll have the grizzled veteran whose game is maybe on the decline and you have the young star that’s coming up. They have to mesh,” he said, citing Oilers vets like Andrew Ference, Boyd Gordon and Matt Hendricks on a roster of young burgeoning stars.

“You can’t have separation of older players who have many warrior wounds from the young guys,” he said, leaving one to wonder what experiences he’s speaking from.

Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are not Thornton and Marleau, for many reasons, but chiefly because they’ve never experienced NHL success. And by “success” we mean “a single playoff game.”

They got to see McLellan operate behind the bench in Prague. They and the rest of the young Oilers are going to be sponges on skates, soaking up what McLellan is selling.

Frankly, that’s his calling card: Working with young talent. He coached AHL Houston to the Calder Cup in 2003. He was WHL coach of the year in 2000. He helped develop Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski and other young stars in San Jose.

“Watching his teams over the years, he’s taken a team with a number of young players and taken them to a level where it was short of a Cup but close to a Cup on a number of occasions,” said Chiarelli.

But still short of a Cup, which is the knock on McLellan: Seven years with a stacked roster, and the Sharks never made the Stanley Cup Final, sometimes bowing out in disastrous fashion (hello, reverse sweep by the LA Kings).

“We had a lot of successes in the playoffs in my opinion. We lost to some very good teams,” said McLellan, ticking off the Chicago Blackhawks and the Kings.

“But we’re not going to talk about playoffs here.”

Nor should they. McLellan is just the next solid-footed step in the right direction for the Oilers, along with Chiarelli and team big boss Bob Nicholson and, soon, Connor McDavid. But it's a long-ass journey. The blue line is a mess, goaltending needs a reevaluation and the Oilers are still the Oilers – young, dumb and no playoff fun.

He’ll have to teach them how to win in the West. He’ll have to make them understand his philosophy on the power play, one of his best attributes. He’ll have to find out who the leaders are and who the followers are.

And once that all happens … well, McLellan has no doubt dreamt what it would be like to accomplish in Edmonton what he never did in San Jose.

“There will be painful days ahead for all of us. But your gut tells you that it’s right,” he said.

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