The Sheet with Jeff Marek
Leafs Win Draft Lottery and Avalanche Continue to Roll ft. Brian Burke & Steven Ellis
06 May 2026
Chapter 1: What does the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery mean for the franchise?
Ifs and buts for candies and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. Welcome once again to The Sheet for this Wednesday, May the 6th. Glad to have you aboard today, Jeff Merrick, along with you. Zach, ifs and buts, if I had my wits about me and was paying attention this morning shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern at Clippers Arena in Stouffville, Ontario, I would have made you laugh today. You know why?
Here was my morning. So my oldest kid, my 2010, was skating this morning from 8 to 9. And I think it was 65 plus beer league came on afterwards. And like, man, I would love to be playing beer league like this when I'm 65 plus or into my 70s or 80s or 90s or whatever. But anyway, so a bunch of the seniors get out there and they're warming up and working on their empty neck goals.
And this one guy comes out in a Maple Leafs, blue Maple Leafs jersey with just the logo. And as he comes around the net and I see his back from shoulder to shoulder written with white tape. McKenna. All right.
Chapter 2: How do John Chayka and Mats Sundin view the first overall pick?
You wonder when the first ones are going to come. And I thought of you as a Maple Leafs fan. I'm like, oh, I should. I'm driving away. I'm like, I should have grabbed that picture for Zach. Anyway, before we get to the blueprint here and before we get to Brian Burke and a little bit later on Stephen Ellis, you were there. You were doing it live. You were watching this thing.
You popped like the cork out of a champagne bottle. Your thoughts on your Toronto Maple Leafs. conspiracy theories and all, getting the first overall pick this year's NHL draft.
Yeah, I think our reactions ended up being a little different than our watch parties in Vancouver and Calgary and even the What Chaos guys who Pete was heavily rooting for a sixth overall pick. It was a little different. It's very exciting. I'll give it to you from a fan and from somebody who's covering the team and taking it seriously.
Chapter 3: What insights does Brian Burke provide on the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
From a fan side of things, it's very exciting that you're bringing in Whether it's McKenna or not, and I think we all assume it will be, you're bringing in this young, exciting player who's going to provide something fresh. As a fan over the last little while, it's gone stale. Matthews, Nylander, the whole conversation, it's gone stale.
It's exciting to see this young, new kid that's going to come in and join the lineup. From an analyst perspective or breaking it down from that side, I think you look at it a little bit like you see them trying to build towards something with Matthews and Nylander still here because it's very clear the direction was you don't get rid of those guys. They stay.
And it's a selling point to them in a sense. I talked about it with Laz and Colby on Morning Cup this morning. You need two top six forwards. Maybe it doesn't work quite as well in year one, but if it's Gavin McKenna, that's one of your two top six guys, right, Jeff? It's a guy that you expect to insert into the top six. And from that standpoint, organizationally, it's a positive as well.
It changes your organization. Lottery day very much is one of those 10-point days now where your organization can change.
Chapter 4: Who is Gavin McKenna and why is he a top prospect for the NHL Draft?
Let's get right to the show. The Blueprint powered by FanDuel. Zach's becoming a star now, by the way. It's only a matter of time before he leaves. I get the phone call. Hey, I didn't want to have to make this call, Jeff, but I got an offer, blah, blah, blah. It's happening. Yeah. The Blueprint is powered. I'll be happy, Zach. Don't worry. I'll stab you.
No, you know, I'm a friend, so I'll stab you in the front. Enemies stab you in the back. I'll stab you in the front.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Maple Leafs' draft strategy moving forward?
Look me in the eye when you do it. Yeah, thank you. The Blueprint is powered by FanDuel. Download the app today and play your game on FanDuel. Zach is everywhere, by the way. Morning Cup of Hockey. He's got the watch party. Brian Burke is standing by. Civilian Wednesdays.
Lots of things that are right on the sweet spot of the bat for Brian Burke, whether it's a draft lottery, whether it's a Toronto Maple Leafs press conference this week. We will talk about both, and we will talk about the NHL playoffs round two. Stephen Ellis, our main prospector here at Daily Faceoff, he's got his mock draft up right now. We'll go over that. Spoiler, Gavin McKenna, number one.
And we will talk plenty about the draft and the players involved.
Chapter 6: How do the Colorado Avalanche perform in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
Start to know the names. whether you're in, you know, for Canada's purposes, whether you're in Toronto, whether you're in Winnipeg, whether you're in Calgary, or whether you are in Vancouver. In the meantime, the star of the show on Wednesdays is the one and only Brian Burke, who knows a thing or two about a thing or two about lotteries and press conferences. He joins me here.
First of all, Burke, it's been a busy week around Maple Leaf land, and I'm not going to lie to you. A lot of times throughout this week, I thought to myself, what would Brian Burke do in this situation?
um first of all the most recent draft lottery from last night and the maple leafs get lucky ball number 12 and they end up with the first overall pick when you were either at the draft or part of lotteries i know you tend to be superstitious sometimes did you ever have like a rabbit's foot or something that you carried with you berkey
Yeah, I did, but it never did me any good. I was always embarrassed. When I went to the lottery, I was always embarrassed that my team missed the playoffs. I was always furious about it and very upset and very embarrassed. I remember saying to Steve Tamalini one time, I hope you're as embarrassed as I am that we're both here. He said, yes, I am. So he gets it. It's a loser's lottery.
Chapter 7: What are the potential outcomes of the NHL Draft for other teams?
That's something you want to be part of. Now, that being said, it's a big day if you win or don't get beaten down. Here are my issues with the lottery. I think there should be only five teams in the lottery. The notion that San Jose got the second pick is garbage to me. That's rewarding a team that really didn't need help.
So I think the notion that Philadelphia Flyers, who were picking 12th, could pick first overall, that's absurd. Five teams in, once you've won twice, you can't win again for five years. Let's move on.
I'll tell you what, I know this is way out of left field, but you were involved in it. The most exciting lottery we ever saw was the Crosby Lottery. When everybody was involved, do you know whether there's been any appetite ever to redo that?
Now, that was unique because it was coming off a lockout where there was no hockey and we had no real legitimate way or credible way to rank the teams for the lottery. But that was the most exciting lottery we've ever seen. Has there ever been an appetite to do that again, Berkey?
Chapter 8: How does the press conference with John Chayka and Matt Sundin affect fan perceptions?
Oh, sure. All the teams that make the playoffs want to go that way. It means that when the Stanley Cup would have a chance of winning it that way. It's absurd. It made sense in 2004 or 2005, whatever year it was. It made sense that year. It doesn't make sense ever again. And 10 or 12 teams in, or 16 non-playoff teams, or that number's going to go up, hopefully. Then, no, make it five.
I'm not sure if I've ever asked you this one before, Berkey. Maybe I did. At that lottery, I'm going to get back to yesterday's lottery, but one question about 2005. So when the Penguins won that lottery, Bill Wurtz, the later owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, started with a very loud voice saying, justice, justice, justice. Do you have any idea what he was talking about? No.
But you remember that, right? Was everyone in the room kind of going like, what's he talking about?
I have no idea.
It was a bizarre one, other than maybe he had just ordered a scotch and was trying to say just ice, and it came out justice. I don't know. Perhaps that's the way that that one went. Okay, so the presumptive first overall draft pick is Gavin McKenna of Penn State, formerly the Medicine Hat Tigers.
When you're a manager of a team and you get that number one pick, how quickly do other teams call to relieve you of the burden, Berkey, and the stress of having to make that first overall pick? Like, does everybody call?
Most people call and congratulate you, but they'll come up with a trade proposal if they have one. I would not be surprised if they already got a number of them. because I think the notion is not just that Chad McKenna is the number one presumptive pick, but there's positional depth there at this pick too. They might want to trade down and get a defenseman or a setter. So we'll see.
It'll be interesting.
Not that marketing should take precedent over hockey operations, but I do wonder for the Maple Leafs point of view, like it hasn't been the best of all possible times this season or even this week for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And this is a good news story that has taken every other story off the headlines.
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