The night the Maple Leafs fortunes changed: Maybe, forever.

There have been four great Leafs centremen in my lifetime: Dave Keon, Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin. All in the Hall of Fame. And now a new day. A new name. A new possibility to build around.

Auston Matthews, the teenager from Arizona, the fresh-faced blue and white saviour. For a franchise that once upon a time won championships, once upon a time contended, but has never been blessed with an abundance of high-end talent, now has a player who could possibly eclipse Keon and Sittler, the short run of Gilmour and the long run of Sundin. He won’t win, can’t win, the four Cups Keon brought home. That isn’t possible anymore. Sittler, Gilmour, Sundin never played for a Stanley Cup as a Leaf. Matthews has an opportunity to be that special player.

An NHL scout yesterday repeated what he’d told me before: “He’s Anze Kopitar with better offence.” Two years ago, Wayne Gretzky called Kopitar the third best centre in the world behind Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews. If this is who Matthews is and what he will become, then the Leafs have a piece they have so rarely owned before.

Who wins Stanley Cups? Teams with overwhelming first-line centremen: Crosby, Toews, Kopitar. Before that Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Brian Trottier. Before that, Jean Beliveau, Keon, Phil Esposito.

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