For about the better part of a decade, since Mats Sundin took his talents to Vancouver, the Toronto Maple Leafs lacked a legitimate number-one centre.
Predictably, a team without a top centre for a decade failed to compete during that time. Then, luckily, they won the draft lottery (after getting screwed the year before and missing out on McDavid) and drafted Auston Matthews, a player who figures to be the best player in franchise history, eventually.
Then Nazem Kadri came into his own. Back to back thirty goal seasons, a role as a shut-down centre, and great peripheral numbers track him as a top line centre as well.