Will third time be a Cup charm for first overall pick and Leafs?

Wendel Clark (1985) and Auston Matthews (2016) were the other No. 1 picks for the Maple Leafs.

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Published May 05, 2026  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  3 minute read

Wendel Clark was the first overall draft selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1985. Photo by Craig Glover /Postmedia Network

While first overall picks have not yet meant a Stanley Cup for the Maple Leafs, they certainly can be a title talisman.

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Of the 61 first overall selections since the early 1960s, 18 kids grew into Cup winners, 13 with their draft teams, though that has not translated for Toronto with Wendel Clark (1985) and so far Auston Matthews (2016).

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Many of those top dogs won the Cup this century, topped by Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Patrick Kane. Connor McDavid, chosen a year before Matthews, has been to the final twice and taken just about every piece of league hardware a couple of times.

The Leafs, who won the National Hockey League draft lottery on Tuesday with just 8.5 per cent odds, could have three No. 1s in the lineup next season with Matthews, John Tavares and either wingers Gavin McKenna, from Penn State via the Medicine Hat Tigers and his Whitehorse, Yukon home, or Swede Ivar Stenberg.

WENDEL-MANIA

Both Clark and Matthews did have tremendous uplifting effects for downtrodden Leafs teams in their first NHL season, Clark with his scoring touch (34 goals) and fists (227 penalty minutes). There was no draft lottery in his day, Toronto paying for owner Harold Ballard’s neglect in the 1980s by finishing dead last in the 1984-85 season.

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A Prairie-hardened winger, Clark was the catalyst for gradual improvement, eventually captain of a team that went to two conference championships.

AUSTON FILLS THE NET

Matthews took a totally different route to top spot, born in California with a Mexican mother, learning hockey in the Arizona desert in small rinks and 3-on-3 hockey. Wooed by many colleges out of the U.S. national team development program, he chose a year playing against men in Zurich of the Swiss League, which cemented his No. 1 status over Finnish forward Patrik Laine.

Falling to the Leafs in the lottery, he became their first Calder Trophy winner in half a century. He debuted with a four-goal game, breaking Rick Vaive’s single season record by hitting 60 in 2021-22 and last year passing his new boss, Mats Sundin, in franchise history with 421.

Along the way he won the Hart, Ted Lindsay and Rocket Richard trophies. With the uncertainty regarding the Maple Leafs’ direction in the wake of dark horse John Chayka’s hiring as general manager and senior executive advisor Sundin’s unfamiliarity with today’s NHL after years in of retirement in Europe, there were questions about Matthews’ level of commitment in the final two years of his contract.

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But whether the team captain was evaluating the front office changes or always committed to Toronto, the arrival of a top-flight player to the team picture in the next year or two should be a boost to him and the dressing room. And next month’s draft will be in Buffalo, where Matthews first pulled on a Leafs sweater on centre stage.

REVERSING DRAFT HISTORY

Despite nine straight playoff appearances up to last year, the Leafs had traded away many prospects in futile pursuit of spring success. It left them with few first-rounders in the past and future, just barely qualifying for the top five draft slots at the end of the schedule to keep their ticket on Tuesday.

The Marlies playoff game at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Tuesday against Laval doubled as a draft watch party. When the ping pong balls popped out Toronto’s way and news spread, gasps and then applause went through the crowd.

When the scoreboard flashed ‘first overall’ many chants of Go Leafs Go rang out.

WHAT’S SHAKING NEXT

What a start for Chayka and Sundin after a rocky introduction on Monday. The often-unorthodox Chayka was the league’s youngest GM 10 years ago with the Arizona Coyotes at age 26 when he chose Clayton Keller seventh overall, the forward remaining a big part of the now-shifted Utah Mammoth.

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In the same 2016 draft, he traded for the 16th pick, defenceman Jakub Chychrun, another mainstay. But the next few years until his controversial resignation in 2021 produced no home runs despite being well positioned in the draft order, more noted for the talent he passed up with his picks.

He’s now going to huddle in coming days for an overall draft strategy with his newly inherited pro and amateur scouts for the draft combine later this month, also in Buffalo.

Those meetings will also include Sundin, one of nine first overalls selected by other teams to play in Toronto, back to Gary Monahan in the first recognized draft in 1963, including Tavares, Eric Lindros, Owen Nolan, Bryan Berard, Joe Thornton, Rob Ramage and Dale McCourt.

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