Penn State forward Gavin McKenna skates during an NCAA regional tournament game against Minnesota-Duluth on March 27 in Albany, N.Y. (AP file photo)

BUFFALO, N.Y. — In giving John Chayka a tour of his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon, last month, Gavin McKenna made sure to take the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager on a visit to a nearby mountain.

“I had fun,” McKenna said with a smile on Thursday. “And I hope he did.”

The 18-year-old top-rated NHL prospect and everyone else will find out at the draft in Buffalo tonight, with Toronto holding the first pick.

The newly hired Chayka appreciates the figuratively steep climb he’s undertaking in trying to restoring luster to one of the NHL’s marquee franchises.

“You want to almost make it a bit painful to make sure you’re getting it right,” Chayka said, noting the front office is unanimous on the selection, without revealing who. “And I think that’s what we did.”

For Toronto, the draft represents a familiar starting-over moment. It was in the same downtown Buffalo arena 10 years ago nearly to the day when the Maple Leafs selected Auston Matthews with the first pick.

Though Matthews remains, the Maple Leafs are in transition with a new front office, new coach and having to rebuild their core group after finishing last in the Atlantic Division. It was the first time they’ve missed the playoffs with Matthews.

Toronto hired former Northern Michigan University star Jim Hiller as head coach not even 10 days ago, on June 17, after he was fired from the same job with the Los Angeles Kings in early March. Hiller was a top scorer on the 1991 Wildcats NCAA championship team.

Top-5 selections

McKenna, an undersized winger at 5-foot-11 but a prolific scorer, is the projected No. 1 pick. Yet he has company in a draft class that’s light at the top on centers and deep on defensemen, leaving many NHL executives unsure of the top five picks.

They include San Jose GM Mike Grier, whose team is scheduled to pick second and ninth.

“It’s definitely a year where I don’t think anyone really knows how it’s going to go, so it could go off the rails a little bit,” Grier said. “Everyone’s board is going to be drastically different.”

The Detroit Red Wings don’t have a first-round pick, with their first choice to be at No. 47 in the second round. They also picked up a fourth-round pick on Thursday with the trade of a minor league player.

Among the leading prospects at top of the draft are Sweden left winger Ivar Stenberg, center Caleb Malhotra, and a host of defensemen: Latvia’s Alberts Smits, North Dakota’s Keaton Verhoeff, and Chase Reid, the top-ranked U.S.-born prospect.

There’s intrigue with Vancouver picking third, and the prospect of Malhotra being selected by a team where his father, Manny Malhotra, is the new head coach.

“Our family, we have a great relationship. We’re pretty open about it,” Caleb Malhotra said, noting the Canucks have kept his father out of the draft loop. “He’s just going to come and be my dad.”

The hometown Sabres have the fourth pick, followed by the New York Rangers.

Trade shakeup

There’s even more unpredictability with the possibility of trades shaking up the order.

Buffalo’s already done so, acquiring the fourth pick by dealing defenseman Bo Byram to Chicago this week. The No. 9 pick has already changed hands three times within the past week, with Florida trading it to Ottawa before being acquired by San Jose.

Grier hasn’t ruled out trading the No. 2 pick, and said he has received “a couple of legitimate offers.” Chayka said he’s made a push to land another top-five selection.

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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno, AP sports writers Jay Cohen and Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL