Auston Matthews is ready to take on the NHL, help Maple Leafs turn page on their tortured past

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The kid from Scottsdale, Arizona, who chose hockey over baseball six years ago, is now charged with being the Original Six team's savior as?the Leafs begin their Centennial season in the midst of a massive yet promising rebuild. At the middle of it all is Matthews, whose path from Arizona to Michigan to Switzerland and now Toronto is something to behold.

"There are so many things that run through your head," Brian Matthews told ESPN.com this week as his son's big moment approached. "Probably a lot of the same stuff that was running through my head at the World Cup and at the draft: memories, emotions, road trips, all of these things that you thought were long lost and forgotten and they come rushing back in. You kind of relive moments that have nothing to do with what's happening at the time -- enjoyment and fun from previous years and how we got here."

On Tuesday, young Auston -- along with linemate and fellow rookie William Nylander?-- was the last player to come off the ice at the team's practice facility in Toronto. A rink rat, like he's always been. There were no visible signs that it was the eve of a seminal moment in his young life.

Afterward, the 19-year-old center allowed that he has indeed taken time to think what Wednesday night represents for him.

"It's going to be a dream come true. It's something that you think about ever since you're a little kid. My parents will be there. It's going to be a special moment.''

Brian and Ema Matthews, like many parents of gifted athletes, are central to the story. Ema lived with Auston last season when he played pro hockey in Switzerland during his NHL draft year, and this season it will be dad living with Auston in his Toronto pad.

"At some point we won't be there, we'll just be going to games," said Brian, a chief technological officer for a New Jersey-based manufacturing company. "But this seemed to be the best possible plan for this transition.''

Matthews is still a kid, with enormous pressure on his shoulders, living in a foreign country. The decision to have dad live with his son seems awfully smart at this juncture.

"The job that his parents have done with him, with the maturity, the respectfulness and the politeness, it just comes out loud and clear," said Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello on Tuesday. "We found that out right away when we had the opportunity to sit down with his parents and sisters. And then, spending some time with him, prior to the draft. He certainly has a presence about him, the way he handles himself beyond his age. Right now he just has to not expect too much of himself. He has to grow. He's still young, [it's his] first year in the league, there are a lot of highs and lows.''

To that end, the Leafs organization is ensuring that Matthews has only hockey to focus on this season. The demands are constant -- everyone in hockey-crazy Toronto wants a piece of young Matthews. But the Leafs, in conjunction with Matthews' agent, Pat Brisson, are taking steps to make sure he's not overwhelmed.

"I have a tremendous respect and relationship with Pat Brisson," said Lamoriello. "We talk often. There's open communication about what's best for [Matthews'] future. Everyone is on board.''

Matthews will be available to the media like any other player at practice and games, but Leafs PR director Steve Keogh will sift through the mountain of other daily requests to ensure that the young player isn't overrun.?

Lamoriello believes the Leafs have a head coach who is perfectly suited to bring Matthews along -- and, in a way, protect him, too.

"Mike Babcock is, day in and day out, just outstanding at doing that," said Lamoriello. "And I think that's basically our biggest asset, with the young group that we have."

The season of pro hockey in Switzerland last season plus his experience at the IIHF world championships in Russia last spring and at the best-on-best World Cup in Toronto last month have all helped prepare Matthews for the level of competition he'll face in the NHL.

"I think it's benefitted me a lot," said Matthews. "Just going against older, more mature players who have experience in the NHL and professional hockey for a long time.''

That Matthews chose the Swiss League last year, a tough test for a teenager, didn't surprise his father.

"He's always sought after the best that he can go against," said Brian. "It doesn't matter which sport. He's always looking for another challenge. A big part is that he's willing to take on and accept the consequences; he just wants a shot. So if he gets to go up against the best, whether it was Switzerland or in Mini Mites, or now the NHL, that's all he wants -- that challenge, the ability to face it, to test his abilities, to see what he needs to work on.

"He knows he has a ton he has to learn, but you have to start somewhere and I think he's just looking forward to just getting it going.''

It was 31 years ago that Wendel Clark went from being taken with the first overall NHL pick by the Maple Leafs to rookie forward with the club just a few months later. Even though Matthews has benefitted from his pro experience during the past year, Clark says that his first official game wearing that Leafs uniform will be something that stands alone.

"The exhibition games are one thing, and playing in the World Cup certainly helps, but there's still that very first game," Clark said Tuesday. "That's the real kickoff to his career. That first game, the warm-up, putting the sweater on, it's really happening now. It's fun.''

And to think, if the Winnipeg Jets hadn't moved to Arizona some 21 years ago, it might have never happened. Auston Matthews might have never have become a fan of the sport.

"I think he would have played baseball, it could have been football, it could have been a number of different sports," his father said. "But if the Coyotes had not been in our backyard and he hadn't gotten that exposure early on ... I honestly would not give it a big chance as to where he would be from a hockey perspective today without the Coyotes being here. No doubt about that.''

The kid known affectionately by his family and friends as "Papi" is ready to take on the NHL. And with that, a franchise with a tortured past is officially set to the turn the page.