TORONTO – He hasn't played since breaking a bone in his right hand in a fight on Nov. 11, but Connor McDavid showed up for Hockey Canada's World Junior selection camp with his game face on. 

You don't reach the level he's at (16 goals, 35 assists in 18 games with the Erie Otters this season) at the age he's at (17) without being intense. That intensity was evident early in the camp's first on-ice workout Thursday evening at the MasterCard Centre.  

McDavid, taking part in a full practice for the first time since having his cast removed Tuesday, mishandled the puck on consecutive plays in the same drill. He was clearly frustrated.   

"He apologized," said Guelph Storm right winger Robby Fabbri, who was on McDavid’s line during much of the practice. "Everyone makes mistakes, but he doesn't make too many of them. I just gave him a pat and told him to relax."

"You apologize to your teammates when you make a mistake," McDavid said. "I messed up there and twice in a row with Robby so I felt bad about it. He's a good friend of mine and he came over and told me not to worry about it."

A little later in the practice the team was put through a shot-blocking drill. The assistant coaches fired foam pucks at players from a few feet away. McDavid, who has not yet been cleared for contact, wanted to be part of it. But after McDavid blocked his first shot head coach Benoit Groulx intervened asking the favourite to go first in the next NHL Draft to sit out the drill.

"I told him, 'You know what? I don't want my face on TV tomorrow [because you got hurt] for this reason so get out of there!" Groulx said with a chuckle. 

"I just went once, so I guess 1-for-1 so that makes me 100 per cent," McDavid said with a wry grin. 

Earlier in the practice, McDavid wired a slap shot past Jets goalie prospect Eric Comrie high on the glove side. It was a thing of beauty. McDavid was, of course, nonplussed when asked about it afterwards. 

"I was taking slap-shots with my cast on so I think you guys are making too big of a deal about it. I’ve been skating for three weeks. I've been skating fully for three weeks so this is kind of just another day."

McDavid suggested his recent layoff from game action may actually be a blessing when it comes to the World Juniors, because he'll be fresher than others. 

"My legs have felt probably better than they did before I got hurt," he noted. 

There is a reason McDavid's every move was and will continue to be under the microscope. He's seen as the next big star in hockey: a generational talent, who can change a franchise's fortunes. And for Canada he is someone, who will figure prominently in the quest to end a five-year gold medal drought. 

"You can tell the legs are there, no problem," said Groulx. "It was good to see him. Just having him on the ice was good for everyone."

The Canadian bench boss, an assistant on Brent Sutter's staff a year ago, says Hockey Canada is going to be very cautious when it comes to the emerging superstar. 

"We want to be patient with him in order to have him at 100 per cent. We don’t want to put Connor McDavid on the ice at 75 per cent. We are going to have to wait and see to how he reacts to practicing."

The hope is that McDavid will be able to play in at least one of the team's three pre-tournament games: Dec. 19 against Russia in Toronto, Dec. 21 against Sweden in Ottawa or on Dec. 23 against Switzerland in Montreal. McDavid, for his part, seemed supremely confident that he will be ready for the tournament opener on Boxing Day.  

Playing mostly on the wing, McDavid, a natural centre, had just four points in seven games last year when he became just the sixth 16-year-old to crack Canada's World Junior roster. This year he's poised to be a leader on the squad. It’s a big opportunity and perhaps the final one on this stage for a player, who appears destined to make the NHL early in his career. And the fact the event will take place on home soil makes it all the more special. 

"Everyone's excited," McDavid said when asked specifically about the added pressure of playing in Montreal and Toronto. "We're not feeling too much pressure now. Being at home, it's a blessing, honestly, it's an opportunity that not a whole lot of people get to do."

On Wednesday, Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada's vice-president of hockey operations, declared that he felt like Canada was an underdog at the event during an interview with QMI News Agency. But McDavid has high expectations.  

"I don't see any reason why we can't [win] it all," he said.