{"id":33802,"date":"2026-05-06T05:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/33802\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T05:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:15:09","slug":"with-draft-lottery-win-the-leafs-catch-a-bullet-between-their-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/33802\/","title":{"rendered":"With draft lottery win, the Leafs catch a bullet between their teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs executive Mats Sundin appears on a video screen after the team won the NHL draft lottery for the first pick on Tuesday.Stephen Whyno\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

As they pulled the winning ball in the lottery on Tuesday night, the camera swung to Toronto\u2019s new hockey executive with a title no one can remember or understand, Mats Sundin. <\/p>\n

Sundin had a \u2018Why is everybody staring at me?\u2019 expression on his face. Someone screamed, \u201cThe Toronto Maple Leafs have won the NHL draft lottery!\u201d <\/p>\n

Without any interim expression, Sundin transitioned immediately to a wide grin, looked into the camera and popped his eyebrows. Like he knew this would happen and was hamming it up. <\/p>\n

Do you sometimes think you\u2019re living in the Matrix? This was the closest you may get to solid proof. Maybe it really is all fixed. <\/p>\n

On Monday night, the Leafs were the biggest uncontrolled burn in professional sports. The smoke rising from 50 Bay St. was visible from space. If they\u2019d come out Tuesday morning and announced that they were taking 2026-27 off for personal reasons, people would have understood. <\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: John Chayka’s tenure with the Maple Leafs begins under intense scrutiny<\/a><\/p>\n

Now things are fine. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s what winning the draft lottery does for a hockey team. You got problems? Not any more, brother. All of a sudden, you\u2019re on top of the wave that was going to crush you yesterday, surfing it into the future. <\/p>\n

The next move is obvious \u2013 Toronto takes 18-year-old Yukon-born Penn State alum Gavin McKenna first overall in June\u2019s draft. Not because McKenna, a winger, is exactly what they need. They will do it because McKenna is the consensus No. 1 pick. <\/p>\n

The Leafs just got creative by tapping John Chayka, a guy who couldn\u2019t get a job in hockey, to run their hockey ops. Based on the reaction to that hire, they may never be creative again. If you got them a set of colouring pencils for their birthday, the Leafs would slap them out of your hands. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A day after getting a frosty welcome to Toronto, Leafs GM John Chayka (centre) will get an easy and splashy move to make in his first NHL draft, Cathal Kelly writes.Michael Chisholm\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Assuming it is McKenna, he solves all their immediate problems. <\/p>\n

McKenna moves the club from the rebuild-soon column back to the win-now column. He probably won\u2019t do that through his play. Even defining talents like Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini needed a season to get used to the NHL. McKenna has a long way to go before anyone puts him in that sort of company. <\/p>\n

But McKenna smooths over many problems simply by existing. People will assume he is going to be great, even if he doesn\u2019t start out that way. The hype around him will dull the spirit of the naysayers. As of right now, it\u2019s no longer cool to dunk on the Leafs. For a few weeks, at least. <\/p>\n

Sundin, who has zero managerial experience, goes from a question mark to the club\u2019s lucky charm. Wherever he is, people will believe his good vibes will make things okay.<\/p>\n

Chayka has the easiest first move of any GM in history. There was a world in which the Leafs lost this pick to the Bruins, forcing Chayka to immediately start swapping tires while the car is moving. Given how people feel about the new boss, every one of those trades would have been greeted like Gordie Howe for a Starbucks gift certificate. You\u2019d be able to hear the yelling from your basement. <\/p>\n

Now Chayka can ease into the job with a can\u2019t-miss move. Even if it misses, it won\u2019t do so for several years. <\/p>\n

McKenna\u2019s arrival makes it easier to sell the Leafs\u2019 other No. 1 pick, Auston Matthews, on the idea that he isn\u2019t a passenger on a hot-air balloon whose pilot light has gone out. If Matthews wants to force a move now, he\u2019s going to have understand that people won\u2019t understand why he\u2019s doing that. If he goes, he\u2019ll be the bad guy, and hockey players hate that idea. <\/p>\n

Mostly, the atmosphere around the team \u2013 which, since the Olympics, has been like the opening five minutes of a movie in which all the characters die \u2013 will brighten. Angry fans will ease off. Jerseys will fly off shelves. Everyone who was sad will be happy. <\/p>\n

Also, this doesn\u2019t change much. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Leafs captain Auston Matthews will get a new injection of young talent to the roster. Many thought that wouldn’t be possible this year with the team’s first-round pick headed to Boston if it fell outside the top five.Dan Hamilton\/Reuters<\/p>\n

McKenna will be expected to be a star right out of the box. While I\u2019m sure they like their hockey in rural Pennsylvania, it\u2019s not Toronto in the midst of an identity crisis. There is a more than average chance that McKenna will be crushed under the weight of expectation. <\/p>\n

Unless he\u2019s got a really big trunk, McKenna will not arrive with an elite puck-moving defenceman, or a young second-line centre with big upside, or a goalie who doesn\u2019t leak like cheesecloth \u2013 all things the Leafs need more urgently than a callow teenage forward. <\/p>\n

Keeping this year\u2019s first-round pick means the Leafs will lose next year\u2019s, and the one for the year after that. So regardless of how good or bad the club is going forward, McKenna is the last young hotshot for a while. <\/p>\n

With that in mind, what Leafs got tossed on Tuesday night wasn\u2019t a life preserver. Those will float indefinitely. Instead, the bouncing balls tossed them a door. <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve seen Titanic, you know that there isn\u2019t much room on a door, and that it\u2019s hard to stay balanced on one of them. You have to hope the water isn\u2019t too cold, and that someone shows up to save you fairly quickly. <\/p>\n

Had the Leafs won the top pick after a tank, this would all be good news. Fan and media patience would be boundless. Pressure would be measured. Matthews & Co. got the benefit of all of that when they arrived, and it still didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n

McKenna won\u2019t have an & Co. It\u2019s just him. People haven\u2019t adapted to the idea that this club isn\u2019t any good (though it isn\u2019t). They still think it\u2019s a contender. So there\u2019s no time, and zero patience. The pressure will be bone crushing. <\/p>\n

By all means, enjoy it. The Leafs just caught a bullet in their teeth. Now let\u2019s see if they can catch a half-dozen more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Maple Leafs executive Mats Sundin appears on a video screen after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[484,2996,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-33802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-noastack","9":"tag-topstory","10":"tag-toronto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}