from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

“I gotta go to Babcock’s house! I gotta go to Babcock’s house!” a young Nick Robertson kept reminding his sister. “I want him to see me in my jersey and tell him I play for Little Caesars.”

It was getting late that Halloween in Northville, Mich., the Detroit suburb where Robertson’s family had recently moved from California and where he’d heard the coach of the Stanley Cup–winning head coach of the Red Wings lived with his family as well.

Little Nicky, dressed up in his Pavel Datsyuk sweater, was getting anxious during that trick-or-treating session, concerned that the jack o’ lanterns would get snuffed out before he hit the motherlode. So, naturally, his candy-fetching-per-minute analytics spiked.

“I remember it was getting late. I was running, knocking on everyone’s door. I’m like, ‘Are you Babcock?’ Then I’d run, knock on the next one: ‘Are you Babcock?’ Then, finally, I got him. I think I asked him about Datsyuk — that was my favourite player at the time.”

continued