Jack Hughes had some interesting things to say about the Toronto Maple Leafs at NHL Media Day on Wednesday. He had some thoughts about how Gavin McKenna will adjust to playing in the NHL and hidden in these words were a jab at the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Michael Traikos asked Hughes about what Gavin McKenna is walking into this season, and in his response, the New Jersey Devils' forward, and former first overall pick, said that, "[McKenna] might be in the best spot because they should have a good team — the Leafs probably shouldn't have had the first-overall pick — and on top of that AMats [Auston Matthews] and John Tavares, who were both first-overall picks before."
I asked Jack Hughes about the situation that Gavin McKenna is walking into this season with the Maple Leafs. As a No. 1 overall pick, he gave a great answer. pic.twitter.com/3MX9jEtVzw
— Michael Traikos (@Michael_Traikos) September 9, 2026
Hughes' comment about the Leafs not being deserving of the first-overall pick certainly won't go over well with Leafs fans. Was this just a jab from an opposing player, or does Jack Hughes actually have a point?
The 2025 Toronto Maple Leafs
It doesn't take an expert to say that the Toronto Maple Leafs did not have the season they wanted to have in 2025. They missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season, and they didn't just miss by a few points, they finished last in the Atlantic division. After losing Mitch Marner, their top points getter of the 2024-25 season, to the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the Leafs were cover off that lack of offense. None of the Maple Leafs players got to 80 points on the season, compared to Marner's 102 of the season prior. Many of the Leafs superstars struggled with injury and under-performed.
The team as a whole went through major changes, bringing in John Chayka as the GM and Jim Hiller as the new head coach. With all of this change and a pretty terrible season overall, it seems pretty clear that the 2025-26 season wasn't good for the Leafs. That being said, did they really deserve the first-overall pick?
The Leafs were bad, but they weren't the worst
The Toronto Maple Leafs werne't the only team that had a bad 2025-26 season. The New York Rangers, who finished last in the Eastern Conference, ended the season with 77 points, one fewer than the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers suffered from terrible performances in home ice, going winless at home for the first month of the season.
Over in the Western Conference, three teams finished with fewer points than the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Vancouver Canucks finished last in the entire league, only managing to put up 58 points. They only won 15 games in regulation. The Chicago Blackhawks finished second-last in the Western Conference with 72 points and the Calgary Flames finished third-worst with 77 points.
Going into the draft, the Vancouver Canucks had the best odds to win the draft lottery with 25.5%. The Toronto Maple Leafs had the fifth best odds of the 11 bottom teams, ranking at 8.5%. The Rangers, Flames, and Blackhawks slotted in-between them. Based on these numbers alone, the Toronto Maples Leafs were less deserving of the first-overall pick than four other teams.
However, they were still bad enough to rank fifth in the lottery odds and to finish in the 11 worst teams. That alone is deserving enough of a high pick, even if Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and now Sergei Bobrovsky will be playing alongside Gavin McKenna.
When it comes down to it, it's not surprising that the star forward of a rival team would think that the Leafs don't deserve a first-overall pick. It's pretty much par for the course.
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