from Marty Klinkenberg of the Globe and Mail,

It was the summer of 2011 when Jeff Jackson heard about the next great prospect in hockey.

The former assistant general manager of the Maple Leafs had only recently launched a career as an agent. One of his clients, Sam Gagne, was training at a rink in Oakville, Ont. Then a centre with the Edmonton Oilers, Gagne was approached by a skinny 14-year-old who asked if he could join him on the ice.

“Afterward, Sam called me,” Jackson says. “He said, ‘You have to find this kid. I have been in the NHL five years, and he can do things I can’t do. His name is David O’Connor.’”

Gagne remembered the bantam-aged youngster had told him he was about to begin playing for the Midget-AAA Marlies of the Greater Toronto Hockey League. So Jackson made an inquiry with the club.

“I asked about the O’Connor kid, and they chuckled,” Jackson says. “They said, ‘Oh, you must mean Connor McDavid.’”

Four years later, there is no confusing the teenager with blazing speed and supernatural skills. He is hockey’s most promising prodigy since Sidney Crosby – and potentially the greatest player to enter the sport since Wayne Gretzky.

“In the history of the NHL, how many players have been so highly touted?” asks Andrew Ference, the Oilers’ captain. “There are not many. Probably only Crosby and him.”

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