NHL Draft 2016: Toronto Maple Leafs select Auston Matthews first overall
The Toronto Maple Leafs have selected Auston Matthews with the first overall picked at the 2016 NHL Draft.
The Toronto Maple Leafs picked first at the 2016 NHL Draft and selected center Auston Matthews from the United States of America. After an impressive 2014-15 campaign with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program team that saw him accumulate 116 points in 60 games, Matthews missed the cutoff date for the 2015 NHL Draft by just a few days. He went overseas to play professionally in the Swiss National League A for the ZSC Lions.
Matthews dominated against grown men as a 17-year-old with 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games. He has had a lot of success on the international stage as well with 15 points in seven games at the 2014-15 under 18 World Juniors, 11 points in seven games at the 2015-16 World Juniors, and nine points in 10 games at the World Championships. Matthews is the first ever number one pick to come from the state of Arizona, where Matthews had a very impressive midget hockey career. Toronto is getting a player who averaged more points per game during his USA NTDP career than Patrick Kane.
He is also the first number one pick born in the United States since Kane in 2007, the first American center to be selected with the first overall pick since Mike Modano in 1988, and the seventh number one overall pick born in the United States.
Matthews is an excellent addition to the Maple Leafs. He has every tool that teams want to see in a number one center. Matthews has shown that he can excel during all situations and should significantly speed up their rebuild. Toronto has searched for quite some time for a face of the franchise and they have finally found one in Matthews.