The Toronto Maple Leafs opened Buffalo's 2016 NHL Draft festivities in predictable fashion, selecting Arizona-born centre Auston Matthews with the first overall pick.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs stepped climbs the stairwell towards the podium at Buffalo's First Niagara Center, it was almost a foregone conclusion that they would select Auston Matthews with the first pick of the 2016 NHL Draft.
On Friday night, in front of thousands of Leafs fans who travelled across the border to watch the spectacle, they did just that, drafting the soon-to-be first-line centre the team has missed since the departure of Mats Sundin nearly a decade ago during the 2007-2008 season.