TORONTO -- The anticipation reached a fever pitch on Friday for who the Toronto Maple Leafs would select No. 1 at the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
So much so that Wilbert Timmermans travelled all the way from the Netherlands to be part of the excitement at the Maple Leafs draft party at Scotiabank Arena.
“Just for this I came,” Timmermans told NHL.com. “The moment number 12 came out of the lottery, I knew I had to be there.”
The Maple Leafs won the right to select No. 1 when they won the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5 when they had the fifth-best chance at 8.5 percent. On Friday, after weeks of speculation, the Maple Leafs made it official picking left wing Gavin McKenna out of Penn State University. McKenna was No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.
“I think McKenna is phenomenal,” Timmermans said. “He has so much potential. I kind of love how he took a similar route as Auston Matthews in a way doing something a little different. Matthews went to play in Europe with the big boys and McKenna went to the college level. He played really well in the second half and I think he’s going to do great as a Leaf.”
Timmermans became a hockey fan when he was in Toronto in 2013, with the Maple Leafs in the midst of their first playoff appearance since 2004. Even though that was the year they collapsed in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins, he was hooked.
“I was at a bar and the place was on fire,” Timmermans said. “The place was buzzing, there were people nervously shaking with beers in their hands and that’s the kind of passion I want to be a part of. I made a vow and pledge to myself that if they ever qualify again, I’d fly back and so in 2017 I came back, met some friends. Now it’s a thing where I come back regularly every year, usually for the playoffs, unfortunately this year no playoffs but we made a great holiday out of it anyway.”
He visited Toronto earlier this year and was considering buying a Maple Leafs jersey. He knew he needed to come back to Toronto after he chose not to listen to his friend Michael Fich’s advice.
“He came in April right before the draft lottery and he was talking about buying a jersey because they’re tough to find in Europe and I was like, ‘Dude, get a McKenna jersey, you know they’re going to get No. 1’ and he didn’t get it,” Fich said. “So he had to come back again to get the jersey.”
Timmermans and Fich were among 3,000 fans who gathered at Scotiabank Arena for the Maple Leafs draft party and were treated to alumni appearances from Wendel Clark, Darryl Sittler and Tomas Kaberle. Fans had opportunities to take pictures with a giant No. 12 lottery ball, the ball that earned the Maple Leafs the No. 1 pick, and the AHL Calder Cup which was won by the Toronto Marlies last Friday as well as autographs and pictures with Clark and Sittler.
When the draft began, fans gathered in the lower bowl to watch the official announcement and erupted with joy when Justin Bieber said, “Mr. McKenna.” When Matthews appeared on the jumbotron with a video message for McKenna, the crowd erupted again.
