Leafs tab Matthews No. 1 overall
The Toronto Maple Leafs picked center Auston Matthews No. 1 overall, making him the first American-born player selected as the top pick since Patrick Kane in 2007 (Chicago).
It will be interesting to see how Matthews develops under Leafs’ hard-nosed coach Mike Babcock, who can be tough with his players.
Matthews (6-foot-2, 216 pounds) took an interesting route to the NHL. He missed the 2015 NHL Draft cutoff date by two days. Instead of playing 2015-16 in any of the North America’s major junior hockey leagues, he went overseas to play professionally with the ZSC Lions in Zurich, Switzerland.