The NHL Redux: Auston Matthews not forging new path, just traveling his
In a sport where prospects from around the globe pack up their lives and descend on North America to make a name for themselves, the class of his class sprung for the opposite.
This is the exceptional, unusual Auston Matthews - the season's preeminent draft prospect - in perfect summation.
Matthews is driving an elite collection of American-born players dominating most early season draft rankings, only he's doing it from Zurich - the German-speaking international hub in northern Switzerland, which happens to have a pretty good hockey team coached by former Stanley Cup winner Marc Crawford.
Matthews' decision to decline the WHL's Everett Silvertips, and an invitation from just about every Division I program in the United States, was a severing from the norm, but not a decision made with intent to be different, or to bring attention to himself, or to earn $400,000 because he can, or to forge a new path for future NHL prospects.
It was made simply to keep his development skyrocketing onward.
"It's just about where you are mentally, physical, and emotionally," a prominent NHL agent told theScore. "Every player develops at a different pace, every human develops at a different pace, so there's no square peg that goes in a square hole for everyone.
"You gotta find that - you gotta figure out the best fit for the player and the best environment for the player to go."
Matthews is no stranger to the unconventional, his entire upbringing in the sport divergent from the standard and rule.
Born to a Mexican mother and American father in the California Bay Area, Matthews relocated to Scottsdale, Az., (an area where SUVs transport golf clubs and road bikes, not hockey gear) soon after his birth, and a few months after the Winnipeg Jets landed in the Valley of the Sun.
There, in his impressionable years, Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick, Teppo Numminen, Shane Doan, and the Phoenix Coyotes were introducing hockey to the region. Now, some two decades later, the team's presence in the market has contributed to breeding its first game-changing prospect.
Matthews will break down that barrier, and also join a small list of players of Latino descent who made it to the NHL. But in order to overcome the challenges from coming up in an unconventional market - like seeking out formidable competition and better coaching - he was always going to have to be a long way from home.
What's a few extra thousand miles?
"There's no right or wrong answer. As long as the player is in a really healthy environment where they are developing as a hockey player and as a young man, and it's a competitive league, that's all you can ask for."
A healthy environment conducive to development, sure, but perhaps not quite the competition initially expected.
The "class of the league" already, according to Crawford, Matthews has dominated the men and former NHL players making up rosters in the Swiss top division - a game that focuses on skill, rarely confrontation, and on a scheduled workload that falls somewhere between the 68 games played in major junior and the 34 in college.
With 10 goals in his first 14 games (earning him a distinguishing yellow helmet like he's leading a bike race through the Alps), Matthews leads the league in goal-scoring despite having a birthdate that meant his first five weeks overseas would be spent practicing, not playing.
A few exhibition games to start the season, though, wasn't the only hockey lost thanks to his position on the birth calendar.
Matthews was born two days after the NHL's contentious Sept. 15 cutoff date that determines draft eligibility - a line that prevented him from playing in the NHL this season and, in all likelihood, from being chosen third overall by the Arizona Coyotes.
It's a shame that Matthews can't be part of this incredible rookie class, and potentially help Max Domi and Anthony Duclair breathe new life into hockey in his hometown. But it's not all bad.
He'll be one of the oldest players at the draft when he, barring any unforeseen circumstances, becomes the seventh American-born player chosen with the No. 1 overall pick.
Because Matthews will make his NHL debut beyond his 19th birthday, he figures to be the most experienced, physically mature, NHL-ready prospect since Alex Ovechkin broke in, and tore up the NHL at the age of 20 after the 2004 lockout.
And funny enough, Ovechkin's birthday falls two days after that arbitrary cutoff too.
THE TEN
10) Mike Babcock
The Maple Leafs' bench boss will be named Canada's head coach at the 2016 Word Cup of Hockey on Thursday. That'll be a nice change.
9) Linus Ullmark
Ullmark is playing himself into a regular NHL job. He conceded two goals on 58 shots in his two wins this week.
8) Jake Virtanen
He did enough before scoring his stunning first NHL goal to survive his nine-game tryout. This was just a bonus.
7) Nathan MacKinnon
Two goals and six points in the past three games for the 2014 Calder Trophy winner, who's steadily bouncing back after a tough sophomore season by quietly contributing at better than a point-per-game pace.
6) James Reimer
The lone Toronto goalie that has to earn each minute banked another 60 with a tremendous performance in the Leafs' upset win over the Stars on Monday.
5) Joe Pavelski
Five this week and now six in his five-game goal-scoring streak, Pavelski has been valiant in his attempt to prevent the Sharks' slip.
4) Dale Weise
Four goals, including his first career hat trick and points in three straight games, have him tied for the Canadiens' lead in goals. And these aren't last year's Canadiens.
3) Marc-Andre Fleury
Fleury has the flawed Penguins three games above .500 with what are now league-best numbers after allowing one goal in his two starts over the last seven days.
2) Tyler Seguin
There was probably more than just a little bit of satisfaction Tuesday night, when he scored a hat trick in Boston.
1) Taylor Hall
Perhaps more impressive than his league-best 11 points over the last 10 days was his response in the third period after Connor McDavid broke his collar bone.
THE TAKES
1) McDavid's injury is shattering.
Just, ugh.
2) But Chris Kelly's is worse.
The 35-year-old Bruins ancillary part broke his femur Tuesday night. Not sure there's coming back from that.
3) The NHL got it right with Byfuglien, wrong with Stone.
If history can work against players, it should work to their benefit, too.
4) Bickell is an American Hockey League player.
No take there, just fact.
5) The Red Wings are the second-worst possession team in the NHL.
Also fact.
6) Voracek is 0-for-50 with his shots on goal.
One day a long-term deal will work out in Philly. One day.
7) Kessel's return should have been acknowledged.
Hate him or love him, the Penguins sniper provided hours of highlight footage in his time with the Leafs. A few seconds probably should have been spliced together.
8) The Blues, this year's Blue Jackets in terms of man games lost, are handling things better than last year's Jackets.
St. Louis is now 8-3-1 despite having Tarasenko, Schwartz, Stastny, Fabbri, and Shattenkirk miss time with injury.
9) Seguin has some effect ...
10) Alain Vigneault wants you ...
... to like his sport.