[MissTeeks]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/c...rtin-st-louis/

As it turned out, Treliving learned far more that day by watching Gaudreau’s American teammates, rather than Gaudreau himself.

"The players know," Treliving told us this summer, as he described a USA push with the goalie pulled that began with genuine NHL players like Tyler Johnson, Justin Abdelkader and Jake Gardiner getting the puck to Gaudreau, nominating an undersized college kid with one NHL game under his belt to start the offensive thrust.

"I was down at the half wall, trying to send it to the point, or send it down low to Johnson. He had both the goals with the goalie out (two in 13 seconds), and I got a lot of touches," a humble Gaudreau said Monday morning. "The coach (Peter Laviolette) believed in me to put me out at the end of the game. Went out there, we had a few goals. Couldn’t score another one. I think we had a minute left too.

"It definitely helped my confidence, playing with NHL guys and (being) one of the last guys out there."

On the Boston College roster from last season he is 5-foot-8, 159. Does one grow an inch from age 20 to 21? Not often.

If that one-inch, 23-pound swing teaches us anything, perhaps it is this: Who cares how big Johnny Gaudreau is? Who cares what this kid doesn’t have, when you see the incredible hockey sense that he possesses?

"What he has," begins head coach Bob Hartley. "The vision of the game. How quick he can shift from left, to right, to left. It’s amazing. For special teams, for power play, Johnny Gaudreau could be a very effective player."

Gaudreau was a point-per-game player that season at B.C. and finished second in scoring. Under promise, over deliver.

The Flames had a guy like this once, and let him go. So we’ll make two predictions:

One, they’ll keep Johnny Gaudreau around until he proves he can’t play in the NHL. Two, that day will never come.