BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — General manager John Chayka and the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the clock in having the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft on Friday night, and with Penn State forward Gavin McKenna regarded as the top prospect.
For the newly hired Chayka, the selection provides him the next opportunity to help reshape one of the NHL’s marquee franchises, which suddenly is in transition following a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division. Chayka already
has hired a new coach in Jim Hiller and last week acquired defenseman Darren Raddysh in a sign-and-trade deal with Tampa Bay.
Now it’s a matter of restocking the Maple Leafs' youth in the same downtown Buffalo arena where Toronto selected star Auston Matthews with the first pick in the 2016 draft.
McKenna is a prolific play-making right winger, who is from Whitehorse, Yukon. Among the other top prospects are Sweden left winger Ivar Stenberg, center Caleb Malhotra and a host of defensemen: Alberts Smits of Latvia, North Dakota’s Keaton Verhoeff and Chase Reid, the top-ranked U.S.-born prospect.
Barring trades, rounding out the top five selections are San Jose at No. 2, followed by Vancouver, Buffalo and the New York Rangers.
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