When Auston Matthews walked into Don Granato’s office in the spring of 2015, something was clearly on the young man’s mind. His question offered no specific context, but Granato knew exactly what his player was talking about when matthews closed the door behind him and said, “So, what do you think?” Matthews had just been in Switzerland at the under-18 world championship, where his MVP performance led Granato’s outfit to gold. His stay in Europe had been extended when USA hockey’s men’s program asked him to stick around and fill an empty roster spot for a world championship warm-up game in Austria. Matthews, all of 17 years old, scored in a 4–1 win over the host country.

With another full season to go before he could be selected by an NHL club, Matthews—who missed being eligible for the 2015 draft by two days—was mulling options, and Granato sensed playing professionally in Europe was one of them. True to his mentor status, the coach flipped around the query. “I remember real clearly. I said, ‘Auston, what do you think?’”

Not exactly a born self-promoter, Matthews stumbled a bit while explaining he didn’t really want to play major junior because he’d be facing kids, and that he’d already proven what he could do against NCAA competition by scoring 15 goals in the 13 contests the U-18 squad waged against college teams that year. The burgeoning talent had also had a bit of a moment at the rink in Austria, where a number of nations had gathered to play exhibition games before the 2015 worlds. “He told me he was taping his stick in the hallway and he turned around and there was Sidney Crosby doing the same thing outside Team Canada’s locker room,” Granato says. “And it clicked in right there: ‘I want to play right now at the highest level.’”

That line of thinking is consistent with the mindset Matthews has demonstrated since his earliest days. The Arizona product has the kind of drive that causes people who’ve crossed his path to preface their praise with: “I know this is a cliché, but with this kid, it’s really true.” That will serve Matthews well now that he appears destined for a region where hockey permeates every soul and sidewalk crack. If the Toronto Maple Leafs call Matthews’ name on draft day, it’ll be in hopes he’s the kind of do-it-all centre around whom championship clubs orbit. And for a young man from a non-traditional hockey market who has a history of taking on ever-larger challenges, his next task will also offer the opportunity to render decades of sporting misery meaningless.