Maple Leafs select Arizona-born Matthews No. 1 in National Hockey League draft

About a year before Matthews was born in Arizona, professional hockey descended on the desert.

Well there’s the Arizona Coyotes, Arizona State has gone division one, there’s a new AHL team in Tucson (the Roadrunners) and now Auston Matthews being selected first overall by the Maple Leafs has helped put Arizona hockey on the map.

The Leafs started their teardown in January 2015 and hit rock bottom this season, giving them the chance to take Matthews, who has been favourably compared to Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg and retiring Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk.

NHL Central Scouting ranked the 6-2, 210-pound play-maker as its top draft-eligible prospect, and he’s also a natural center, a top-line position that’s hard to fill.

Forgoing junior hockey, Matthews spent his draft year in Switzlerand, ringing up 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games for Zurich SC, the Swiss league’s top regular season team.

He’s the first US player picked No. 1 overall since 2007, when Patrick Kane was taken by the Blackhawks.

The American centre became the first No. 1 overall pick of the franchise in 31 years and instantly the most significant piece of an ascending rebuild in Toronto.

With the 182nd over pick the Maple Leafs selected Nikolai Chebykin from HK MVD Balashikha in the seventh round of the 2016 National Hockey League draft.

The Blue Jackets passed over Finnish forward Jesse Puljujarvi to take Quebec-born forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.

And the Blue Jackets’ selection came a day after general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said he was considering trading the pick.

Finland had four players selected in the first round, with center Henrik Borgstrom taken 23rd by Florida.

Puljujarvi was selected fourth by Edmonton. Winnipeg Jets: Patrik Laine, RW, Finland 3.

“They’ve got a good thing going on there”, Canucks president Trevor Linden said after Vancouver rounded out the run of Finns by selecting defenseman Oli Juolevi with the fifth pick.

The weekend is about more than just one pick and one player.

The Canadiens then acquired forward Andrew Shaw from the Blackhawks for two second-round picks. 39 and 45 in the draft.

– Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs)Huge congrats to @A_Matthews34 on being selected the #1 overall pick at the #NHLDraft.

Fear not Leafs fans, Auston Matthews is here.

Before the draft began, Bettman announced that the league’s annual pre-draft rookie combine will return to Buffalo for a third consecutive year.

“Even though you’ve been in the business a long time, it blows you away”, said McPhee, the former Washington Capitals general manager who is serving as a special adviser to the New York Islanders.

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