It was almost like Mike Babcock knew before everyone else. He was standing in a Michigan rink last summer, watching prospects play against each other when the conversation turned to Auston Matthews.

This was before Babcock declared that Matthews could be a dominant center by Christmas. This was before Matthews would score four goals in his NHL debut. This was before Matthews worked his way up the Team North America depth chart in the World Cup from extra forward to the top line with Connor McDavid.

Matthews was still a bit of an unknown last summer, an Arizona kid who played his highest level of hockey in Switzerland.

An unknown to many, but clearly not to Babcock.