TORONTO — Scary as the thought would be for National Hockey League opponents, Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock figures he has witnessed significant steps forward in Auston Matthews during training camp.

“In general, he is a real improved player,” Babcock said on Tuesday after the Leafs practised at the MasterCard Centre.

“His skating through the neutral zone from a year ago to now is night and day. His confidence without the puck, so he has the puck all the time, is way better.

“The growth in your young guys goes so fast because confidence is the hardest part to get, but as they get going and understand the league, they get better quick.”

Matthews’ attitude — his focus isn’t surpassed by any of his Leafs teammates — hasn’t changed much.

“It has been like that since I have known him,” Babcock said. “He is doing everything he can to get better.

“He is all-in with feedback, takes the good, throws out the bad and gets on with his day. When people are talking too much about him, he is well-grounded and his parents keep him that way and he is a good man to have on your team.”

Matthews’ teammates, like their coach, can’t help but take notice of what the 20-year-old has been doing since camp started two weeks ago. This what the greats of the game do: They keep pushing the envelope, keep taking their game to another level, keep leaving people walking away in awe.

Matthews imposed himself on the NHL in 2016-17, winning the Calder Trophy with a 40-goal season after scoring four goals in his first game.

There have been great Leafs, but have any possessed the kind of potential that Matthews does? No.

“He looks super-poised to take a run at anybody in terms of what his ceiling is and the conversation of players he wants to be in,” defenceman Connor Carrick said. “His demeanour … the command of the way he’s coming into faceoffs, the speed of which he is attacking through the neutral zone. (He’s) less looking for permission to be the player that he is.”

Matthews doesn’t have something similar to an “Aw, shucks” outlook when he talks to reporters, but nothing goes to his head. When he was told on Tuesday he placed 10th in TSN’s annual poll ranking the top players in the NHL, Matthews didn’t bite.

“It’s tough to put myself that high and put myself in front of a lot of players who are on that list,” Matthews said. “Because one year doesn’t make your career. Nothing has ever really been given to me. I think I’ve had to work for everything I have achieved and earned.”

Winger Matt Martin played with Steven Stamkos for two seasons with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League; later, Martin was a teammate of John Tavares for six seasons with the New York Islanders before joining the Leafs in the summer of 2016.

Stamkos and Tavares are sublime players in their own right. Matthews is poised for something more.

“Through camp, it looks like he is not going to go in one of those (sophomore) slumps,” Martin said.

“I think he is ahead of the curve, I think he is as mature as it gets and he only wants to get better and better.

“The way he tracks pucks down and gets them back, transitioning and turning it into offence is pretty amazing. He is going to continue to evolve into an elite player in this league — he already is — but he’s only going to continue to get better.”

There are many reasons for Leafs Nation to be exhilarated about the prospects for the 2017-18 season.

Mitch Marner and William Nylander have the talent to go to another level as well; for many, though, it will be about anticipating where Matthews, who has six points in three pre-season games, can go next.

“You never know what he’s going to do,” Martin said. “A guy who can skate that fast and change direction as well as he does, causes a lot of problems for defenders. He can beat you so many different ways and that makes him so effective.”

NO MORE PAIN?

“If you think there is no pain coming … there is pain coming.”

Those words famously were uttered by Mike Babcock during his introductory news conference in May 2015 when he was hired as coach of the Maple Leafs.

Pain came when the Leafs finished 30th overall in Babcock’s first season behind the Toronto bench; weeks later, at the end of April 2016, the rebuild went into overdrive when the Leafs won the draft lottery and subsequently picked franchise player Auston Matthews first overall.

With apparently nothing but prosperous times on the horizon for the Leafs, is the pain over?

“I wouldn’t say that,” Babcock said. “I coached lots of good teams in Detroit, we had 124 points (in 2005-06), and we lost in the first round of the playoffs.

“There are lots of things that can happen. There is no guaranteed success. You just try to keep getting better each day and doing good things. You just stay steady on the rudder. There are going to be lots of ups and downs, but the sun is going to get up and we’re going to keep working.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com