Nail Yakupov might be three years older than Connor McDavid, but don’t count on the 21-year-old Russian forward to moonlight as a tutor for the Edmonton Oilers’ No. 1 overall draft pick.

“I don’t think I’ll be a teacher. I’m too young for that,” said Yakupov, who might find himself on McDavid’s right wing on the Oilers’ second line. “We’ve got lots of old guys to tell him things.”

Yakupov, who was skating Thursday at Perry Pearn’s 3-on-3 camp at the Knights of Columbus Twin Arenas, watched a couple of McDavid’s junior playoff games on TV, but hasn’t seen him play in person.

“Lots of speed,” Yakupov said. “Different game junior and NHL, of course. Different life, too, but I’m sure we’ll do our best to make him feel comfortable.”

Centre Derek Roy, an unrestricted free agent who has several Kontinental Hockey League teams after him, was Yakupov’s instructor with the Oilers last season, but he was 10 years older. It was a natural teacher to pupil assignment.

“The first five or six games with Derek I was scared of him,” Yakupov said. “He would be yelling or swearing at me, but it was worth it. Sometimes you’re trying to be everywhere on the ice, but you have to be in your spot and listen to the centre.

“Especially a guy like Derek, who has played in the league for 10 years. He’s seen everything in the game. He could help a young kid like me. Soon as Derek got the puck, I was trying to get open for a shot.

“He gave me so much support and I was happy to be playing hockey again,” said Yakupov, who spent 3-1/2 months as Roy’s linemate.

The consensus is that Taylor Hall will be on left wing with McDavid (they are skating together at the BioSteel camp in Toronto this week) and Jordan Eberle will stay on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s ride side on another line, maybe with Benoit Pouliot.

The Nugent-Hopkins line would go against the other team’s top defence pairing. That leaves a right-wing spot available alongside the 18-year-old McDavid. It’ll be Yakupov or the veteran Teddy Purcell, most likely.

“I’d really enjoy to stay with one guy a long time,” said Yakupov. “That was how it was with Derek. But I can’t pick my centre. We have lots of centres, all good.”

Yakupov’s first year in the NHL was terrific, with 17 goals in half a season. He slumped badly with only 11 goals in Year 2 and never had the trust of then-head coach Dallas Eakins. Last season, he got going under interim coach Todd Nelson and with Roy as his regular centre from January on.

Year 4 will be a pivotal one in Yakupov’s career. Is he a 15-20 goal scorer or could he get 30?

“I don’t want to go with the past,” said Yakupov, who will play for his fourth NHL coach in as many years with Todd McLellan taking over the bench in 2015-16. “It was up and down, up and down. First year was good; then down, down, down in the second; then I went up last year.

“Todd gave me support and gave me a centre. Todd believed in all of our players. He didn’t change anything. He put the lines together and everybody stayed together. That’s why we started to win games and we started to enjoy ourselves.”