Auston Matthews, the likely No. 1 pick at the upcoming NHL Draft in June, has had a lot of time to prepare for whichever team wins Saturday night’s lottery and the right to pick first overall.

In a Michael Traikos piece for the National Post, Marc Crawford, who spent the past season as Matthews’ coach with the Zurich Lions, shared some of the 18-year-old’s curiosities about his potential future organizations.

“I got a lot of questions about Lou, because he’s heard of Lou,” said Marc Crawford, referring to Toronto Maple Leafs general manger Lou Lamoriello. “I shared with him the story that I had a chance to work with Lou around 2006 and didn’t do it because I was afraid of it. It was probably the worst mistake I ever made, because once I got to know Lou I realized just how nurturing a guy he is and how positive he is with the organization.”

Lamoriello joined the Leafs just days ahead of the 2015 NHL Draft, after spending 23 years with the New Jersey Devils. He carried with him a legacy as one of the league’s most vaunted executives and has so far made several moves in order to get the Leafs better positioned for future success.

Through shedding salary and acquiring draft picks, Toronto has taken the first steps towards constructing a contender, and adding a blue-chip prospect in this year’s draft could go a long way toward accelerating the rebuild.

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Matthews has been highly touted for multiple years now, and could have been one of the top choices in the 2015 draft had he been born two days earlier.

According to one scout for a Canadian team, Matthews, who made the unusual choice to play overseas in his draft-eligible season, would have been second only to Connor McDavid in 2015.

“People don’t know how good he is because he wasn’t around to scrutinize all year,” said the scout. “I think that’s a huge advantage for him. The team that gets him is going to be incredibly surprised just how good he is. I hear things like he would have gone third in last year’s draft. Are you kidding?

“No disrespect to (2015 No. 2 pick Jack) Eichel, but he couldn’t carry Matthews’ skates to the rink. His impact in the NHL is going to be special.”

While Finnish winger Patrik Laine has made the choice for whichever team picks first overall a lot more interesting with his impressive play in the Finnish Elite League’s playoffs, Matthews remains the top rated skater by NHL Central Scouting’s Dan Marr and Sportsnet’s Damien Cox.

“I have no doubt that he’s going to be a top No. 1 centre in the National Hockey League,” said Crawford. “He’s got the same vision, the same presence with the puck, the same take-charge attitude as McDavid and Eichel. I don’t want to put the pressure on him that he’s going to be a franchise player, but he’s going to have no problem fitting into the NHL.

“He’s not afraid of big markets. He just loves to play.”