NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ Kevin McCarthy has seen some things since the Philadelphia Flyers drafted him 17th overall in 1977. Forty years in pro hockey will make sure of that.
McCarthy had a 53-point season as a defenseman in Vancouver. He played on the worst Penguins team of all-time. He won a Stanley Cup as Peter Laviolette's assistant in Carolina in 2006, went to a Cup final with Laviolette's Flyers in 2010 and has helped Laviolette's Nashville Predators reach unforeseen heights.
But he never saw anything like an 18-year-old Mario Lemieux.
The two were teammates in Lemieux's rookie year of 1984-85. McCarthy, 59, can still recall the first time he laid eyes on the 6-foot-4 French-Canadian prodigy known as "Le Magnifique."
"You know when somebody has that presence when they walk into a room," McCarthy said. "He was 18 going on 30. I mean, there would be games you'd be sitting on the bench going, 'Wow.' "
It wasn't watching Lemieux, however, that left the deepest impression. It was skating on his line. An injury to Warren Young prompted coach Bob Berry to move McCarthy, an 8-year veteran, from defense to right wing.
"I remember Mario telling me _ and I'd been around for a bit _ 'If I have control when I get over the blue line, take off for the far post with your stick on the ice,' " McCarthy recalled, laughing. "I thought, 'I can do that.' I scored two goals that night. Six-inch tap-ins. I continued on that line for five more games. The one thing I didn't do was break Warren Young's ankle in practice so I could stay there."
Things weren't so enjoyable a year earlier, McCarthy's first in Pittsburgh. The team won 16 of 80 games under a coach (Lou Angotti) who has since admitted he sometimes tried to lose and a GM (Ed Johnston) who made some curious moves that helped position the franchise to draft Lemieux.
"I always like to tell people I was part of the team that turned the franchise around," McCarthy joked. "I'd like to think of myself ... as a builder."
Did he ever sense management tanking?
"You knew there was a plan in place," McCarthy said. "I don't think anyone wants to admit it, but you were pretty sure what was going on."
How about Angotti's admission of sabotaging his team?
"I certainly didn't get that feeling, but that doesn't surprise me, to hear that being said."
McCarthy worked in the Hartford/Carolina organization from 1992-2009, which means he worked for Jim Rutherford _ and marveled at how Rutherford took a small-market team to the Cup final in 2002 against Detroit.
"Their payroll was $75 million; ours was $39 million," McCarthy said. "Paul Maurice was the coach. I remember getting the lineup sheet. I looked at their first six guys and said, 'Hey Mo, do you realize their first six guys make more than our entire team?' "
Another guy in the Penguins organization garnered McCarthy's deepest respect: Matt Cullen, whom McCarthy coached for two years in Nashville.
"Ultimate pro," McCarthy said. "Like if you wanted a young kid to look up to somebody for how you go about your business on and off the ice, you couldn't do much better than Matt Cullen."
As for the raucous atmosphere in "Smashville," McCarthy pegged it before the series began.
"Probably as loud a crowd as I've seen," he said. "And I've been around for 40 years."
