ERIE, PA.

Just over a three-hour drive from the Air Canada Centre, where the Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers were vying to see which team would increase its odds of landing Connor McDavid by stumbling and bumbling its way to a loss Saturday night, the kid in question is discussing what it might be like to one day don one of those beloved Toronto blue-and-white jerseys.

Chuckling out loud during a one-on-one sitdown with Sun Media, McDavid is recounting a text he received from a friend on Friday night that included a photo of two kids from Ottawa wearing customized ‘McDavid 97’ Maple Leafs jerseys.

“It’s pretty crazy to even think about,” McDavid said, referring to the possibility of being a Leaf one day. “But that would be an absolute dream come true.”

A dream for Connor McDavid, who grew up in Newmarket cheering for the Leafs.

And certainly a dream for long-suffering Maple Leafs fans who are seeking any semblance of hope for the future in this, yet another seemingly lost season for the team they faithfully support.

Sitting in an otherwise empty dressing room in the spiffy Erie Insurance Arena, you can see the enthusiasm etched on the face of the normally reserved 18-year-old phenom when he talks about the Leafs. Having said that, know this: The top-ranked skater for the upcoming 2015 NHL entry draft insists he’ll be happy with whichever of the 30 NHL teams draft him.

There will be no Eric Lindros “I-won’t-go-to-Quebec” stance. In other words, a refusal to go to certain teams. That is not the way Connor McDavid operates.

At the same time, he’s not about to hide the fondness he’s had for the Leafs, the same team his father, Brian, rooted for.

As he takes us on a brief trip down memory lane during our 20-minute interview, McDavid recalled his inaugural experience of seeing a live game at the ACC. He figures he was about 10 years old at the time.

“I’m from Toronto. You have to be a Leafs fan,” McDavid said. “So, of course, I was. Of course. My dad was a Leafs fan. Every Saturday night watching Hockey Night in Canada would be my favourite time.

“I still remember going to my first ever Leafs game. It was a Rangers-Leafs game. The Leafs won 4-1. I don’t remember (which players) were playing or who was scoring. I just remember that when my dad and I would drive down, we always used to joke who could guess the score. And for whatever reason, I picked Leafs to win 4-1. And that’s what happened.

“I’ll remember that forever.”

Just as he’ll never forget the influence that former Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph had — and still has, for that matter — on he and his family.

As he came through the minor hockey and lacrosse systems in the York-Simcoe region, McDavid was a teammate of Taylor Joseph, one of Cujo’s sons. Through their friendship, there were a number of days when the boys would play shinny and/or practice in the customized rink inside a barn on Joseph’s former farm in the King City area.

Asked how he would be able to cope playing in the fishbowl of a hockey-mad Canadian market such as Toronto, Edmonton or Ottawa, McDavid said watching the way Cujo always conducted himself with dignity whenever dealing with the public certainly set a good example.

“Some of his best days came in Toronto and he thrived off the pressure,” said McDavid, adding that he subscribes to Cujo’s credo that, if you embrace the limelight that shines on you in a market like Toronto, it can be a positive.

“I 100% agree with that. It is what it is. Some of the players playing on the Leafs could tell you that. They’re living it right now. It is what it is and you’ve got to deal with it so why not embrace it? Wherever you end up, you deal with it.

“Listen, if a team could ever win in Toronto, it would be unbelievable. Whoever won would have the key to the city. It would be something that people would never forget.

“So, playing in a place like that, it has its perks and it has its downfalls. But its one of the best places in the league.”

Having been in the spotlight for the past three or four years — if not more — McDavid already has experienced a glimpse of fame, although nothing like what lies in store for him as the draft approaches.

“Yeah, I think I’ve had a little taste of that,” he said. “Even the world juniors being in Toronto and Montreal prepares you for that. And, you know, I thought I had a pretty good world juniors.

“Obviously, whatever happens happens. And if it ends up being a team like the Leafs or the Sens or some of the other teams you mentioned, yeah, it would be crazy. It would be on a different level. I’m not really sure how I would handle it. I would just have to see and experience it to say how you could handle it.

“Anywhere you go in the NHL, there is going to be crazy media coverage to different extents.”

Some places more than others, of course.

To that end, McDavid is grateful to play in a place like Erie, where he can concentrate on becoming a better player without being saturated with the “which-NHL-team-will-Connor-end-up-with-in-June?” circus that is snowballing in markets such as southern Ontario, the Alberta capital and, of course, Bytown.

“It’s not too hard for me,” he said, referring to his ability to tune out Connor-mania. “I play here in Erie. It’s not too media crazy here. You’re kind of sheltered from the media hub of the world up in Toronto and all that.

“So it’s not too hard.”

Helping to that end is a strong support group that consists of his family, adviser Jeff Jackson, Otters general manager Sherry Bassin and the Erie coaching staff including assistant Jay McKee, a former NHLer.

“You have to surround yourself with good people and people that you love,” he said. “I have a great group around me. It’s my parents, it’s my brother, it’s my family, it’s the Orr Group with Jeff Jackson and Bobby Orr and Dave Gagner.

“They do such a great job with me. They for sure keep me grounded.”

With that, our chat is over. Almost. There is just one final subject to touch on — that being the fact that the Oilers-Leafs game Saturday was being billed in some circles as ‘The McEichel Bowl,’ ‘The Connor Cup,’ among others. (Which, in our view, is a slap in the face to loyal Sabres fans, who right now have the best odds of seeing McDavid end up in Buffalo with their 30th-place team.)

“It’s kind of funny and it’s kind of nice, I guess,” McDavid said of having his name associated with the Toronto-Edmonton tilt. “It’s a nice compliment.

“I can guarantee, though, that you ask any of the players playing in that game and they want to win more than anything. But I know with the Leafs, they’re on an 11-game slide (entering play Saturday) and I’m sure they’ll do anything for a win. So I don’t think anyone’s really thinking about it. They’re just kind of playing it up to be that way.

“Like I said, it really is a compliment, but in the overall scheme of things it really doesn’t matter.”

It certainly does to the members of Leafs Nation, who want to see Newmarket’s Boy Wonder wear one of those blue and white No. 97 jerseys one day.

WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM A FLAMES FAN?

If Canadian golfer Graham DeLaet was hoping to get under Connor McDavid’s skin with his biting tweet on Saturday — not to mention that of Maple Leaf fans — it had the opposite effect.

In fact, McDavid laughed Saturday night when informed by Sun Media of DeLaet’s tweet, which said: “I will puke if the Leafs end up with McDavid.”

“That’s funny,” McDavid said. “I’m glad he’s having fun with it.

“But I’ll say it again: It would be an honour if I ever get the opportunity to put on that Leafs jersey one day.”

Sorry, Graham. Not what you wanted to hear.

DeLaet, for the record, is an avid Calgary Flames fan.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT STROME

This place has become the hockey hotbed for NHL scouts and management types to congregate.

With Erie Otters forwards Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome both projected to go in the top six of the NHL entry draft in June, it’s no wonder that Maple Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas and Edmonton grand poohbahs Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe were on hand for the game against the Greyhounds on Friday.

While McDavid has been getting most of the publicity — and rightly so — Strome entered Saturday’s game against London as the OHL’s second-leading scorer with 92 points in 49 games.

In an attempt to learn more about the lanky centre, Sun Media asked McDavid to provide his own personal scouting report of Strome.

Here’s McDavid’s rundown:

“He’s an unbelievable player, with the skill he’s got ... He see’s the ice so well ... If you’re playing on his wing, you just have to go to the net and he’s going to find you ... He’s so unbelievably gifted with his passing ... And he’s got a great shot, which not a lot of people mention ... He’s an overall great player.”