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The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the lottery for the first pick in the NHL draft.
The victory comes at a critical time for Toronto in the aftermath of hiring John Chayka as general manager and bringing back franchise legend Mats Sundin to serve as a hockey operations adviser.
The future of captain and best player Auston Matthews is the biggest question after missing the playoffs for the first time in his career. It’s the first time the Maple Leafs have won the lottery since taking Matthews with the No. 1 pick in 2016.
They had the fifth-highest odds of winning it at 8.5 per cent. Vancouver had the highest at 18.5 per cent and has never had the first pick in the draft.
The San Jose Sharks won the lottery for the second pick, while the Canucks fell to third.
Toronto would have had to transfer its pick to Boston to complete a trade last year for Brandon Carlo had it not been in the top five. The Bruins and Philadelphia, as a result, will get the Leafs’ first-rounders in 2027 and ’28.
For this draft, Penn State’s Gavin McKenna and Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg are rated as the top North American and European prospects by NHL Central Scouting.
