Wendel Clark is the only player in history to be drafted first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He will lose that designation on Friday night if the Maple Leafs do the expected and keep the first overall pick at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo.

While Clark refuses to give an opinion on who the Leafs will select with the top pick, he did say he doesn’t expect that player to face more pressure than he did when he joined the club back in 1985.

“I think it’s the same,” the 49-year-old told TSN.ca when asked to compare the pressure from 31 years ago. “It’s all about winning. Whether it’s back then or today, it’s about winning and playing well. I think as a player, you don’t worry about the outside stuff. That’s nothing that you can control. No one player can control what happens outside the dressing room and the rink.”

Clark skated for the Maple Leafs in 13 of his 15 NHL seasons and is one of the most beloved players to ever wear the blue and white sweater. His advice for the player the Leafs take, likely Auston Matthews, is to focus on being loved by your teammates, then let the fans follow.

“Play hard, be yourself and, it sounds very simple, but be a great teammate,” Clark said. “You’re already drafted at a [high] spot so they know you’re a good hockey player, they know things are going to fall into place. You just have to get along with your teammates because it takes a team to win. You have to be in that group.

“…Win that battle,” added Clark, “and don’t worry about what goes on outside the rink.”

Clark scored 34 goals and added 11 assists in 66 games during his rookie year with the Maple Leafs. Having gone through a season of being expected to be the top pick, Clark cautions the next Maple Leaf hope to take things slow and not overthink their role.

“You come here and get acclimatized to playing in the NHL and become a good player, or a great player, we’ll see what happens,” Clark said. “Really, you’re just coming to be one of the pieces and being picked that high, you’re one of the better pieces and that’s the way we look at it.”

Whether the Leafs pick Matthews or Finnish sniper Patrick Laine, the top pick will be entering a locker room ripe with young talent, but one that also appears to be lacking a clear leader. Clark, who spent three seasons as captain of the Maple Leafs, believes a leader will emerge from within the team. He sees no reason for the team to rush to name a captain.

“It’s not something you just throw around lightly,” Clark said of the captaincy. “It’s something that they will know when they see fit to have somebody wear the C. The leadership group is really a team thing. The leadership will all come to the forefront in the dressing room. You don’t need somebody with a sharpie drawing letters on a sweater to tell you who the leaders are.”

The Maple Leafs have been without captain since trading Dion Phaneuf to the Ottawa Senators in February, one of many moves made by the team’s new-look management in a full-scale rebuild. Head coach Mike Babcock promised pain when he was hired last summer and the Leafs followed by finishing dead last in the league. Still, Clark believes the team is on the path to success.

“It’s been looking pretty good,” Clark said optimistically. “I know it doesn’t sound that way when you say we’re in 30th and we’re picking first, but I think they did a lot of upstairs stuff that they wanted to be stable.”

With stability restored, the focus for the Maple Leafs will now return to ending their 49-year Stanley Cup drought. Clark and the Leafs fan base, hope Friday night’s selection will represent another step toward achieving that goal.

*Clark was presented in Toronto on Tuesday on behalf of Tylenol as he promotes the importance of healthy living prior to his 50th birthday in October. Though no alumni game has yet been announced by the NHL for the Maple Leafs’ Centennial Classic, Clark expects to tie up his skates in January though he jokes he’ll have to start getting in shape now.