06/26/26 11:08:00
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06/26 11:07 CDT Maple Leafs on the clock with No. 1 pick in the NHL draft, with
McKenna considered top prospect
Maple Leafs on the clock with No. 1 pick in the NHL draft, with McKenna
considered top prospect
By JOHN WAWROW
AP Hockey Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) --- General manager John Chayka and the Toronto Maple Leafs
are on the clock in having the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft on Friday night, and
with Penn State forward Gavin McKenna regarded as the top prospect.
For the newly hired Chayka, the selection provides him the next opportunity to
help reshape one of the NHL's marquee franchises, which suddenly is in
transition following a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division. Chayka
already has hired a new coach in Jim Hiller and last week acquired defenseman
Darren Raddysh in a sign-and-trade deal with Tampa Bay.
Now it's a matter of restocking the Maple Leafs' youth in the same downtown
Buffalo arena where Toronto selected star Auston Matthews with the first pick
in the 2016 draft.
McKenna is a prolific play-making right winger, who is from Whitehorse, Yukon.
Among the other top prospects are Sweden left winger Ivar Stenberg, center
Caleb Malhotra and a host of defensemen: Alberts Smits of Latvia, North
Dakota's Keaton Verhoeff and Chase Reid, the top-ranked U.S.-born prospect.
Barring trades, rounding out the top five selections are San Jose at No. 2,
followed by Vancouver, Buffalo and the New York Rangers.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
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