Column: As Edmonton’s Connor McDavid approaches greatness, he’s getting great advice from legends Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky once stood where Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid stands now, at the point of shedding the label of fair-haired prodigy because they had begun to dominate a game in which men give kids no breaks.

No one knows better than Orr, who expanded and transformed the role of defensemen during a brilliant career that was cut short by knee injuries, and Gretzky, who rewrote the NHL’s scoring records, how it feels be touted for stardom before they were teenagers. No one knows better than Orr, who joined the downtrodden Boston Bruins in 1966, or Gretzky, who moved with the Oilers from the World Hockey Assn. to the NHL in 1979, how it feels to carry the hopes of a franchise and the expectations of an entire league.

It is McDavid’s good fortune that Orr and Gretzky are in his life, Orr as his agent and Gretzky as vigilant vice chairman of the Oilers. It will be McDavid’s great fortune if he can continue to blend their unselfishness and passion with his own singular vision and extraordinary skills. His future is limitless. His time is now.

“Connor’s a special young man. Sometimes you forget he’s only 20 years old,” Gretzky said. “He has handled himself with tremendous grace and people in Edmonton love him.

“I think as he goes along here, people around North America that get to watch him play will see that he’s one of those guys that every time he steps on the ice he can bring you out of your seat with either his play-making ability or his speed or just his uncommon hockey sense. It’s pretty special to watch.”

McDavid will perform on a new stage Sunday as the fan-chosen captain of the Pacific Division team in the NHL All-Star game at Staples Center. He enters the All-Star break leading the league in assists (41) and points (57) in 50 games. Last week he earned his 100^th career point in his 92^nd NHL game, the fourth-fewest games to reach 100 points among active players after Alexander Ovechkin (77 games), Sidney Crosby (80) and Evgeni Malkin (89).

Those are exhilarating numbers, but Orr firmly and wisely resists attempts to discuss how many scoring titles or individual awards McDavid might win. Why limit him by imposing other people’s projections when he’s only starting to learn what he can do?

“He’s a kid that has a great love and passion for the game,” Orr said in a phone conversation. “We all have levels that we should play at and are expected to play at, and that’s what he does. He’s playing very well right now and he’s going to be a wonderful player and will represent the league very well.”

McDavid appreciates Orr’s protectiveness. “It definitely has helped a lot,” McDavid said Wednesday at Anaheim, hours before he contributed a selfless assist on the Oilers’ first goal of a 4-0 victory over the Ducks.

“I got to know him when I was just a little kid. I think I met him when I was 14. He has definitely played a huge part in my life just in terms of everything I’ve had to deal with on a day-to-day basis, different experiences, stuff like that. I’m very lucky to have met him at a young age and have a relationship with him for this long.”

Drafted No. 1 overall by the Oilers in 2015 and hailed as a savior for a once-glorious team that had lost its way, McDavid had 12 points in his first 13 games before he broke his collarbone and sat out nearly three months. He finished with 48 points in 45 games.

His success appears to have come easily. He insists otherwise. “Gosh, no. This league is a true battle. Each and every night is a new test,” he said. “This league is very difficult and it is a good test, but I do expect that out of myself. I expect that each and every night.”

Also setting him apart is his remarkable consistency. Most young players find it difficult to make an impact in every game because they’re expending energy on battling bigger, stronger foes than they faced in junior or college hockey. Not McDavid. His longest pointless streak is two games, powerful proof of his maturity and determination.

Yet, he downplayed that and said he wants to be more than merely a scorer.

“Points isn’t necessarily a direct indication of value. You can have a great night and be held pointless, and you can have a night where you don’t feel good and you get a few. It’s weird that way,” he said. “So I try not to judge everything on points.”

Oilers Coach Todd McLellan rarely finds McDavid’s game wanting.

“He brings it every night,” McLellan said. “He has a tool kit full of different things that if it’s not going well for him in a certain area he’s able to draw upon other things, and I think that’s what makes him and a handful of others special in this league.”

In hockey speak, a tool kit is a player’s skills. A tool box is the player’s head, his ability to learn and adapt.

“Throughout my years I’ve seen a lot of guys that can skate and handle the puck but the sense might not be there, the sense of timing, when to go to the holes, when to hit the holes,” McLellan said. “He’s got both. He’s got the sense and the tools.”

It’s impossible to say how far those assets will take him. But with Orr and Gretzky guiding him, McDavid is unlikely to go astray as he goes from wunderkind to wonderful.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen