William Nylander and Matthew Knies could barely process what they were seeing in real time — the news was just too big.
On the night of May 5, while watching a Toronto Marlies vs. Laval Rocket playoff matchup at the Toronto Marlies game inside the Coca-Cola Coliseum, the two Toronto Maple Leafs stars were casually sitting in a suite when everything changed: Toronto had just won the NHL draft lottery.
At first, it didn’t even feel real.
Knies was glued to his phone trying to confirm it, while Nylander — wearing a Blue Jays cap and still focused on the game — suddenly blurted out what everyone was thinking.
“Oh my god… we won the draft lottery. Are you kidding me?”
Moments later, Knies checked again and finally confirmed it.
“Yeah… we did win it.”
That’s when things fully spiraled into disbelief and laughter.
Pure shock in the suite
Nylander couldn’t hold it in:
- “That’s crazy!”
- “That’s insane!”
- “That is wild!”
Knies was just as stunned, repeating how unreal it felt: “That’s so cool… that’s so cool.”
The Leafs had only an 8.5% chance of winning the lottery — something Nylander reminded him of right there in the moment. Knies could only respond with a simple, “Wow.”
Mats Sundin appears on screen
At one point, Nylander even showed his phone displaying a live moment featuring Mats Sundin, who was representing the Leafs during the lottery reveal shortly after joining the organization as a senior executive.
“You get Mats there?” Nylander said while showing the screen.
All of this was unfolding while the Marlies game — which also featured Alex Nylander — continued in front of them, though neither player could fully focus.
A moment that changed everything
Looking back, Nylander admitted it was nearly impossible to stay locked into the game while waiting for confirmation.
What the two players experienced in that suite reflected the same shock felt across Leafs Nation: total disbelief, followed by pure excitement.
Instead of picking around fifth overall — or worse, losing the pick to the Boston Bruins — the Toronto Maple Leafs suddenly found themselves holding something much bigger:
A chance to reshape the future of the franchise with the 2026 NHL Draft first overall pick, a true game-changing turn no one saw coming.
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