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At the back of the bar, one Toronto Maple Leafs fan was showing off an unusual good-luck charm: his tattoo of Mike Babcock, the team's famed head coach, on his ankle.

At the front, two other jersey-clad fans were retelling the story of how they had ridden a Greyhound bus for hours to experience precisely this moment: the results of the NHL's draft lottery.

This was a gathering of about 40 of the franchise's most diehard fans in downtown Toronto on Saturday night, and they were praying to see the Leafs' last-place season wrap up with a rare win.

Most were pessimistic – the result of years of disappointment and losing that comes with supporting one of the most historically hapless teams in pro sports. The Leafs also had only a 20-per-cent chance of getting the first-overall pick out of the random draw and a nearly 50-per-cent chance of falling to fourth spot, their worst possible outcome.

But after a dramatic, 14-team countdown, the Leafs won the lottery – and now have the right to draft a budding star in 18-year-old American Auston Matthews this June.

The cheering from hundreds of thousands of Leafs fans around the world hasn't stopped since.

"This ranks right up there with the greatest Leafs moments of my life," said Tanner Ready, a 25-year-old from St. Thomas, Ont. "I went in here thinking they're getting fourth. I'm still a little bit in shock."

Years from now, Leafs fans may well look back on April 30, 2016, as a defining moment for the franchise. If Matthews – a gifted two-way centre from Scottsdale, Ariz., who had 24 goals in 36 games in Switzerland's top league this season – is Toronto's pick and can meet scouts' projections, he will be the Leafs' first game-changing young talent at the position since Mats Sundin's early years in Toronto more than 20 years ago.

Matthews would also join an already impressive stable of young talent. The Leafs past 14 months under president Brendan Shanahan's watch have been dedicated entirely to rebuilding the organization's prospect base and getting younger, a process that has paid off in the minors with a top-ranked Toronto Marlies team filled with future Leafs.

But winning Saturday's lottery means they will add one of the best prospects the franchise has ever had – and their first No. 1 pick since Wendel Clark in 1985 – which should accelerate Toronto's road up the standings. If Matthews can step in as a top centre immediately, and Shanahan continues to make other savvy additions, it's possible the Leafs can be a playoff team within a season or two and a contender shortly after that.

"The validation [of our plan] isn't in winning a lottery because that's up to fluke," Shanahan said. "I think we'll feel satisfaction and validation if and when we get to the point where we're truly a Stanley Cup-contending team. That's really when we're going to feel that the work we've done was done well."

The draft has become vital to NHL teams' success since the institution of the salary cap 11 years ago. High-end talent rarely makes it to free agency and pulling off trades for star players is difficult. The financial advantages the Leafs enjoyed before 2005-06 have also been mitigated and having savvy management – more than a big pocketbook – has become the surest path to success.

But draft luck can play a role, too. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who took Sidney Crosby in 2005, and Chicago Blackhawks, who selected Patrick Kane in 2007, benefited from adding their talents en route to Stanley Cup wins within three or four seasons.

Crosby and Kane – along with other stars those teams took high in the draft such as Marc-André Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews – have helped both teams remain contenders for years. The Blackhawks have won three of the past six Cups; the Penguins are second to only Chicago in playoff wins since 2008 and one of the favourites to win it all this year.

While some teams, such as the Edmonton Oilers, have won several lotteries and continued to struggle, the hope in Toronto is Matthews becomes a player who can star for the Leafs for at least the next decade and be part of a long-awaited rebirth.

The Leafs haven't won a Cup since 1967, but their recent futility has also been more pronounced than almost every other NHL team. They have played in the fewest playoff games (seven) of any team since the salary cap was adopted and have lost more games than any team but Edmonton in that time.

The Leafs' 105 losses in 164 games over the past two seasons is a team record, albeit one bolstered by overtime and shootout losses, which weren't tracked in the 1980s, their other period of extreme ineptitude.

"We earned this the hard way," was how Shanahan put it on Saturday. "It wasn't a whole lot of fun this year ... but this [pick] will certainly help."

A former second-overall pick himself, Shanahan realizes it will take more than adding Matthews to climb out of the abyss. Even with other recent high selections such as Morgan Rielly (fifth in 2012), William Nylander (eighth in 2014) and Mitch Marner (fourth last year), the Leafs are still searching for a top pairing defenceman and a starting goaltender, and they need to climb nearly 30 points in the standings just to make the playoffs.

Winning the lottery on Saturday, however, has shortened their to-do list by potentially taking "No. 1 centre" right off the top.

It also re-energized a fan base that has been waiting for this kind of unexpected good fortune for decades.

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