TORONTO -- Nothing seems too big for Auston Matthews. Not going No. 1 in the 2016 NHL Draft. Not playing for Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey 2016 before playing in an NHL game. Not breaking in at center as a 19-year-old rookie with the Toronto Maple Leafs and dealing with the attention in the Centre of the Hockey Universe.
Not playing against his hometown team, the Arizona Coyotes, and one of his childhood idols, Shane Doan, at Air Canada Centre on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SNO, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV). He said it would be "pretty cool" in his customarily casual way in the middle of his customarily crazy media scrum.
That's just who he is.
"He's a genuinely easygoing, good guy," Doan said.
This won't be the first time Matthews has been on the ice with Doan. He has skated with him and other NHL players at Ice Den in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the past three summers.
As Matthews was growing up going to Coyotes games, sleeping with posters of Doan and Daniel Briere on his bedroom walls, trying to imitate his favorite players on the ice, he was good enough to catch Doan's attention.
When Matthews went to play for USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Doan spoke to him a couple of times.
Then in August 2014, when Matthews was about a month shy of 17 and headed back for his second season in Ann Arbor, Doan invited Matthews to skate with the big boys.
"I was pretty nervous, honestly," Matthews said. "Just didn't want to go out there and step on anybody's toes. I was definitely one of the youngest guys out there."
Nervous? Tentative?
He didn't show it.
"He was dominating," Doan said with a smile. "It was pretty impressive to see. We were all joking and laughing about it and had a pretty good time."
Doan said Matthews scored four goals in his first scrimmage. He said the final score was 5-4 but couldn't remember which team won.
"It was awesome," Matthews said without mentioning his four goals. "It was so much fun."
That now seems like it was foreshadowing after Matthews scored four goals in his NHL debut, a 5-4 overtime loss against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 12.
Doan said he saw Matthews score his first goal, then went to hockey practice with his 14-year-old son, Josh. He watched the rest of Matthews' debut and texted congratulations to Matthews and his parents. He knows Matthews' parents because they go to the same church as Doan and his family.
"He's a guy that is going to get so much attention and so many accolades over his career because of the player he is and the person he is," Doan said of Matthews. "At the same time he has no desire to be that type of person. He just wants to play hockey and it's so fun to see."
Doan, 40, joked that this story made him feel old, but it has to make him feel good at the same time. He came with the Winnipeg Jets when they relocated to Phoenix in 1996. He has stayed with the franchise through good times, bad times and worse-than-bad times, because he loved where he played and hoped to make an impact on the game.
Now a kid who grew up idolizing him and skated with him has become one of the game's brightest young stars and will play against him in an NHL game, not just a preseason scrimmage.
"I think it's so important to have the teams in the southern half of the U.S., because you start to get the athletes who are down there who are incredible and so talented," Doan said. "It expands our sport."
This is just the beginning. Matthews has 13 goals and 22 points, ranking second in each category among NHL rookies behind Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine, the No. 2 pick of the 2016 draft.
Kids now look up to Matthews, including one in Arizona named Josh Doan.
"He's as big an Auston Matthews fan as there is," Doan said.
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