"Kind of speechless, I guess," Matthews said of Gretzky's words. "Especially coming from him, the best player to ever play the game, it's a pretty humbling comment from him. To be in the same sentence as those guys, it kind of puts you on your heels a little bit. It's tough to kind of get [your mind] around when I haven't even played an NHL game yet."
This will be an adjustment, though.
Matthews is going from a best-on-best tournament to practicing and playing preseason games with a mix of NHL players, minor-leaguers and junior players. Then he will break in with the team that finished 30th out of 30 teams in the NHL last season, grinding through 82 games like he never has before, traveling across the continent like he never has before, facing physical opponents like he never has before, learning to use his skill within the structure.
"I think once he starts playing and starts to learn our systems a little bit, adjustments will be made," said defenseman Morgan Rielly, his teammate with Team North America and the Maple Leafs. "He'll always have that creativity. It's just a matter of making it work during the games, which I'm sure he will."
Babcock said Matthews will start as the Maple Leafs' No. 3 center.
"He determines where it goes from there," Babcock said. "He's a good young player, but we feel he's an important player for us, and over time he has a chance to be a dominant player in the National Hockey League."
Key words: over time.
Toronto can't let expectations run amok. Toronto can't set limits on Matthews either. Toronto needs to let him play, let him grow, understand this is the beginning of a long-term process for him and the Maple Leafs, and understand Matthews is off to a great start already.
Ask him about expectations, and the only number he mentions is 200, as in playing the full 200 feet of the ice.
Ask him how he will judge himself, and he says: "Just making an impact each and every night. Gaining more and more trust from the coaching staff and being able to go out there in all situations. Having their full trust that you can go out there and be responsible on both ends."
If he does that, Lou will be plenty happy.