Can we take a second to thank our lucky stars that Auston Matthews has been on the Toronto Maple Leafs for the past seven years?
Imagine if the Toronto Maple Leafs lost the NHL Draft Lottery and picked second, instead? The team would have been stuck with Patrik Laine, who probably would’ve been traded by now, similar to what happened in Winnipeg.
They would have drafted a player that could still score 40 goals per season, but they wouldn’t have acquired a future Hall-of-Famer, like they did with Matthews.
Take a minute and think about that for a second.