Kris Knoblauch reminisces how a 17-year-old Connor McDavid made his case to lead an OHL team

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and coach Kris Knoblauch go way back. Knoblauch coached McDavid in his minor hockey days. He coached the Erie Otters of the OHL, while the center played on the club as their team captain.

Since then, McDavid has been a leader on and off the ice. NHL.com captured Knoblauch’s recollections of a then-17-year-old McDavid:

"I’ve known Connorrfor a while. I remember when he was 17, obviously coached him a year and a half at 15, 16, then came back as a 17-year-old, his last year of junior and he was our captain," Knoblauch recalled.

Knoblauch would go on to reminisce about McDavid’s leadership even as a teenager:

"About a week into training camp, seeing him conduct himself, talk to the players, how encouraging he was, how hard he worked, I realized he was our leader, he was our captain, and he ended up being our captain and was outstanding all season," he said.

That attitude convinced Kris Knoblauch that he had made the right choice in naming Connor McDavid as team captain.

Knoblauch highlighted how he didn’t want to pressure McDavid into being the team leader. Still, McDavid, being as he is, left little doubt that he was the right person for the job.

Roughly a decade later, Knoblauch and McDavid enter Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals looking to etch their name into history. Knoblauch is coach once again, with McDavid leading the way on the ice.

---

Connor McDavid looking to boost the powerplay

The Edmonton Oilers’ powerplay had been their strength all season long. However, it began to lag as the playoffs wore on. Their struggles with man advantage have gotten to a point where they are 0 for 7 in the first two games against Florida.

NHL.com captured Connor McDavid’s thoughts on the mental approach to the powerplay:

“I think it’s got to be a little bit more of a 5-on-5 mentality in terms of it’s not going to be as structured. I would say, it’s not as structured a power play, but just using instinct,” Connor McDavid said.

“We call it playing road hockey. I think we’ve got to be elite at that. They’re doing a great job of making it tough on us. With that being said, the power play has been together for a long time and we’ve been great at what we do. We usually solve penalty kills and I would expect us to figure this one out, too,” he added.

The Oilers will need to get that elite powerplay moving if they want to get back into the series. Edmonton has scored one goal in two games. That type of production won’t be enough to get past the Florida Panthers in Game 3.

With an elite core of players on the ice and the man advantage, it could only be a matter of time before the Oilers scoring breaks out.