They gathered for a team picture and Connor McDavid, the captain, the boy king: he was in the middle. He isn’t just the crown jewel of this hybrid young North American World Cup team; Connor McDavid is the crown jewel of hockey. Of course he was front and centre.

Up in the top left-hand corner was Auston Matthews, the future boy king of the Toronto Maple Leafs: another No. 1 pick, another star-in-waiting at 18. Matthews started this tournament as the 13th forward for the U.S.-Canada under-23 team; he is now playing with McDavid on a top line and first power-play unit with Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele. McDavid is the show, but here, Matthews is his shadow.

“He’s a really humble kid,” Matthews says. “Just his talent is incredible. He’s our leader on this team, he’s our captain. So I think everybody should be looking up to him. I mean, everything, he’s got everything, the whole toolbox. His speed, his hands, his vision, he can pretty much do it all on the ice.”

“He’s proven over the last few games that he’s for real and that he can help me play at this level,” McDavid says. “I think you just learn how solid he is all over the ice. He’s a big body and he protects the puck well. He’s got a good shot and some pretty good hands. I think he’s a pretty good all-around player.”

McDavid is the can’t-miss kid of this generation — the true superstar Canada generates every nine or 10 years, maybe, on average. Ask other players about him, and you will find awe.

“There was a few times when we played together at the world championships this year where he would curl low, get the puck at our blue line, and it was a scoring chance,” says Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. “That’s how good he is. He gets his speed going, and it’s him, and he has the puck 120 feet away, and it’s almost a scoring chance. He’s a guy who creates his own space — he’s so fast and so good, and he uses his teammates so well. He passes too much almost, because he sees it so well.

“He’s, in my opinion, one of the best players in the world.”

Now, Rielly is also bullish on the six-foot-two, 210-pound Matthews, even though a few of the under-23 guys went out for dinner last week and when they went to order a glass of wine, realized Matthews was 18. (Matthews turns 19 Saturday: he is eight months and four days younger than McDavid.)

“We trained together for about a week in camp prior to the World Cup, and I think he’s — I mean, more than I expected,” says Rielly. “When we drafted him we didn’t really know what to expect, and now I think I do have a pretty good feel for him. He’s so good two ways, he can skate so well, he has skill with the best of them . . . he’s been out of this world in terms of my opinion.”

“He’s played on the left side, the middle, even played on the right side a little,” says North America coach Todd McLellan. “Every time he goes on the ice, he seems to be able to adapt to people around him, and complement them . . . Those two complement each other. Austin with his size and ability to hold on to pucks and Connor with his speed.

“I think Auston has the ability to play the game fast, but also slow it down with his size, protect pucks and make plays. He’s been one of our most responsible forwards as well on the defensive side of the puck.” The other day, McLellan added, “He hasn’t taken a backseat to anybody, respectfully, but he has not been shy in the locker room. He’s not been afraid on the ice. He’s a pretty exciting player right now. Certainly the Leafs will have a fun one to watch for many years.”

And if anything radiates off Matthews, it is confidence. Other players talk about how well he carries himself: Matthews, over and over, says the same thing: He belongs here. He says he’s never felt uncomfortable, or out of place, at any level of hockey.

“Definitely from (exhibition) game one to three I think I was a totally different player,” says Matthews. “I started hanging on to the puck more, kind of creating more offence, definitely creating more opportunities for myself, my linemates. From game one to game three I think I saw a lot of confidence.”

He never had a rival growing up — as Matthews puts it, “I played in Arizona. There’s not really rivals there.” So, what about McDavid? Nobody is expected to be in McDavid’s class as a player, and Matthews says he’s not thinking that way. But at least Matthews doesn’t seem afraid of the idea.

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“I mean, I think you look at it as a healthy competition,” says Matthews. “It’s the same thing with him and Jack (Eichel). And a lot of guys in this locker room. Everybody wants to be the best, and you do whatever you can to be it.”

He adds that they might never play together again: you can probably imagine them both at the senior level one day, Canada and the U.S., facing off. For now, Auston Matthews is playing with one of the all-time greats, and aiming to be one, too.

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