Article content

Admirers wasted no time. Before the bunting could come down at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., they were congratulating the Calgary Flames.

For what? Even the Flames were confused.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Flames fended off early trade offers for Gaudreau Back to video

They had snared Johnny Gaudreau at the 2011 National Hockey League draft, and, curiously enough, the 104th overall selection was creating a bit of buzz.

“People were talking about him,” recalled Craig Conroy, assistant general manager of the Flames. “Probably eight to 10 teams said, ‘Man, that Gaudreau’s going to be a good pick. He’s small, but he’s special.’ ”

Interesting input from rivals, to be sure.

“And we’re like, ‘Oh, OK,’ ” said Conroy. “You don’t know if they’re just being friendly.”

Or if they’re just being cagey, in a seed-planting kind of way.

Prying eyes never strayed far from Gaudreau, who was bound for his freshman year with the Boston College Eagles. Clearly, for most NHL outfits, the lad resided in the Worth Watching file.

For good reason, apparently.

The shifty winger, in only his second appearance for BC, humiliated home-ice North Dakota.

“He was just breaking ankles behind the net,” Eagles teammate Chris Kreider, cackling, said last season. “There were these hulking defencemen chasing him around, just trying to kill him.”