Everyone's excited about Auston Matthews. It's an undeniable fact. Nobody can escape it.
And that extends to Toronto Maple Leafs and future Auston Matthews head coach Mike Babcock. Babcock was over in Russia during the 2016 IIHF World Championships, and he took the time to talk to him - much to the chagrin of Morgan Rielly (who refused to answer whether or not he'd take Matthews or Patrik Laine first overall).
Oh sure, Rielly has a lot of praise for Matthews. He had to defend against him a couple of times; they'll probably be teammates in not even a month's time. But when he went through the hotel lobby to find Babcock and Matthews already sitting down... well...
"I said Babs, he's not on the team yet... I'd like to talk to you. How are you? How's the travel?"
Poor Rielly. Not only because he got the shaft from his coach in favour of some hotshot rookie - but also because his vocal chords sound wrecked and he's probably still hungover after winning gold with Team Canada.