Who should the leafs draft

Leafsrmylifesadly

Registered User
Jun 2, 2007
151
0
Guelph
who do you think the maple leafs should draft with the 13th overall pick. At fist i thought they should draft logan couture but i have been reading that his conditioning is not up to par so i think they should go with Maxim Mayorov if he is avaliable, Colton Gillies if he is avaliable or zach hamil.

What do you guys think and who might they draft in the later rounds and why?
 

WhiteWash*

Guest
Couture. His stock is dropping because of what you said, so he may slip to that pick, but I doubt it. If he does though, take him, or trade up a few spots to get him. They said that stuff about Kessel too.
 

Bégin is the bestest*

Guest
i think they should draft Esposito and hopefully he'll be a bust. :D
 

TruthDeliveryVehicle*

Guest
people beyond sixth overall who don't draft couture are gonna be sorry.

the kid starts off the year with mononeucleosis, he tries to play through it and plays well enough. then comes back, a step behind in his conditioning because of the virus, but he's a team player and he's being counted on as their best player. he sustained a leg injury mid season and missed a little time, but still was not healthy all year.

how did this 17 year old fair for the season? well he still managed 78 points in 54 games. but the scouts inexpicably labelled him slow and now people are comaplaining about his conditioning. this kid fought through an extremely difficult year, toughed it out for the sake of his team and still had a GREAT year by any standard for a player of his age. how does he get rewarded? the scouts, angry that they never got to see him at 100 %, give him terrible reviews and now his stock is as low as can be.

this kid's talent is top 5, if the leafs pass on him at 13, they should just quit. my guess is a team in the late top 10 will be smart enough to see the player he is.
 

PensFan101

Forever Champions.
Apr 23, 2007
2,123
411
Owen Sound
Considering the Leafs history of 1st Round busts/studs they trade away for flops, I'd say they should continue that trend, and take the riskiest player available in Esposito. Although they could do the world a huge favour and pick a guy like Colton Gillies who won't end up being a superstar if he pans out.
 

kostitsyn1489

Registered User
Jun 18, 2006
3,448
0
Louiseville, Quebec
people beyond sixth overall who don't draft couture are gonna be sorry.

the kid starts off the year with mononeucleosis, he tries to play through it and plays well enough. then comes back, a step behind in his conditioning because of the virus, but he's a team player and he's being counted on as their best player. he sustained a leg injury mid season and missed a little time, but still was not healthy all year.

how did this 17 year old fair for the season? well he still managed 78 points in 54 games. but the scouts inexpicably labelled him slow and now people are comaplaining about his conditioning. this kid fought through an extremely difficult year, toughed it out for the sake of his team and still had a GREAT year by any standard for a player of his age. how does he get rewarded? the scouts, angry that they never got to see him at 100 %, give him terrible reviews and now his stock is as low as can be.

this kid's talent is top 5, if the leafs pass on him at 13, they should just quit. my guess is a team in the late top 10 will be smart enough to see the player he is.

I didnt have the chance to see him play all that much. 3 games this season 2-3 games at U-18. He's been really good in 2 games in OHL, but wasnt that noticeable in the 3rd one. At U-18 him and Turris didnt impress at all.

So like you said he got injured alot this season, but I didnt see him play enough well not enough good game or at least when he was healthy. So do you think he's better then guy like Kane, Voracek, Turris, JVR, Cherepanov or Gagner?
 

TruthDeliveryVehicle*

Guest
I didnt have the chance to see him play all that much. 3 games this season 2-3 games at U-18. He's been really good in 2 games in OHL, but wasnt that noticeable in the 3rd one. At U-18 him and Turris didnt impress at all.

So like you said he got injured alot this season, but I didnt see him play enough well not enough good game or at least when he was healthy. So do you think he's better then guy like Kane, Voracek, Turris, JVR, Cherepanov or Gagner?

I think he's a better prospect than Gagner for sure, who racked up points playing with Kane.

The rest of them have very good talent, I wouldn't rate him ahead of them necessarily because the draft is about potential, but he certainly has more to give than many of those guys. He is, at worst, a John Madden type player, but more likely a solid top 6 centre with the ability to be a captain.

My personal opinion is that he's close to John Toews in his abilities.
 

CapGoodie

Registered User
Feb 19, 2007
1,702
0
New Scotland
people beyond sixth overall who don't draft couture are gonna be sorry.

the kid starts off the year with mononeucleosis, he tries to play through it and plays well enough. then comes back, a step behind in his conditioning because of the virus, but he's a team player and he's being counted on as their best player. he sustained a leg injury mid season and missed a little time, but still was not healthy all year.

how did this 17 year old fair for the season? well he still managed 78 points in 54 games. but the scouts inexpicably labelled him slow and now people are comaplaining about his conditioning. this kid fought through an extremely difficult year, toughed it out for the sake of his team and still had a GREAT year by any standard for a player of his age. how does he get rewarded? the scouts, angry that they never got to see him at 100 %, give him terrible reviews and now his stock is as low as can be.

this kid's talent is top 5, if the leafs pass on him at 13, they should just quit. my guess is a team in the late top 10 will be smart enough to see the player he is.


My view of Couture sort of flowed with how he was ranked, not the player he should have been early, with a second thought to how injuries affected him, followed by becoming very impressed towards the late stages of the season and becoming confident in Couture once again.

Then came the u-18's, where he was by all acounts 100% healthy and coming off some late season strong performances. Along side so many of his expected first round counterparts I thought he looked noticably a step slower, and his hands and overall play looked downright ordinary. It was enough to make me back away from seeing him as a future first line star in the NHL.

No one in the draft has been as hard to peg for me than Couture, and a good part of that has to do with seeing him play so often, and then seeing him along side all the other first round projections at the u-18 when he was back to full health, rested, and coming off a confidence building end to the year (for him personally).
 

Vincent_TheGreat

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
6,128
1
Ontario
Visit site
who do you think the maple leafs should draft with the 13th overall pick. At fist i thought they should draft logan couture but i have been reading that his conditioning is not up to par so i think they should go with Maxim Mayorov if he is avaliable, Colton Gillies if he is avaliable or zach hamil.

What do you guys think and who might they draft in the later rounds and why?

Conditioning can be worked on, he's only 18. I don't think we could or should pass on Couture, he's the exact type of player we need right now.
 

BlueJays

Registered User
Dec 12, 2005
222
0
Couture conditioning?

One thing that seems quite odd is that people (some fans & scouts) are making statements about Couture's foot-speed, first-step quickness, stamina, etc.

As was pointed out in another thread previously, skating drills were timed during the Top Prospects game in mid-January when Couture would surely have been still adversely affected by the draining nature of having had mono. The times recorded for Couture in various skating sprints were actually faster than those recorded for both Sam Gagner & Mark Katic, to name only a couple. Yet nobody seems to question the skating or speed of Gagner in any 'scouting report' seen to date.

One would think that given the exorbitant amount of icetime that players such as Kane & Gagner received all season, their skating & quickness would certainly be more developed & superior in mid-January to most other draft prospects, let alone Couture who missed several games & was far from 100% all season.
 

mooseOAK*

Guest
Considering the Leafs history of 1st Round busts/studs they trade away for flops, I'd say they should continue that trend, and take the riskiest player available in Esposito. Although they could do the world a huge favour and pick a guy like Colton Gillies who won't end up being a superstar if he pans out.

The Leafs haven't drafted any first rounders that could remotely be labeled a bust since 1999, the worst draft maybe ever.
 
Jul 10, 2003
13,937
1,067
KW
Take any of Hamill, Couture or Backlund if available. I would like to trade up and get Alzner around 5 or 6 but we're more likely to move down than up.
 

Team_Spirit

95% Elliotte
Jul 3, 2002
37,211
16,338
One thing that seems quite odd is that people (some fans & scouts) are making statements about Couture's foot-speed, first-step quickness, stamina, etc.

As was pointed out in another thread previously, skating drills were timed during the Top Prospects game in mid-January when Couture would surely have been still adversely affected by the draining nature of having had mono. The times recorded for Couture in various skating sprints were actually faster than those recorded for both Sam Gagner & Mark Katic, to name only a couple. Yet nobody seems to question the skating or speed of Gagner in any 'scouting report' seen to date.

One would think that given the exorbitant amount of icetime that players such as Kane & Gagner received all season, their skating & quickness would certainly be more developed & superior in mid-January to most other draft prospects, let alone Couture who missed several games & was far from 100% all season.

Maybe he can't pull it off in game situation and it's all that matters, skating sprints aren't really important. A slower skater can be faster if he's using his head and hockey sense. Players with a good 1st step usually have above average hockey smarts.
 

TruthDeliveryVehicle*

Guest
Maybe he can't pull it off in game situation and it's all that matters, skating sprints aren't really important. A slower skater can be faster if he's using his head and hockey sense. Players with a good 1st step usually have above average hockey smarts.

Couture certainly would be one of those players in this draft that you would say has elite hockey sense.
 

Heat McManus

Registered User
Nov 27, 2003
10,407
17
Alexandria, VA
I hate kids who cheat the OHL draft so if the Leafs drafted Couture I could comntinue to hate him.
Elaborate please.

people beyond sixth overall who don't draft couture are gonna be sorry.

the kid starts off the year with mononeucleosis, he tries to play through it and plays well enough. then comes back, a step behind in his conditioning because of the virus, but he's a team player and he's being counted on as their best player. he sustained a leg injury mid season and missed a little time, but still was not healthy all year.


this kid's talent is top 5, if the leafs pass on him at 13, they should just quit. my guess is a team in the late top 10 will be smart enough to see the player he is.

That's what I was thinking too. From what I've heard, he has incredible hockey sense. I'd pick him at 13th.
 

nally

When you have something to say, silence is a lie
Sponsor
Nov 8, 2004
1,446
517
London, Ontario
www.Directdial.com
I think he's a better prospect than Gagner for sure, who racked up points playing with Kane.

Well, being a season ticket holder in London for years, I can tell you that Gagne may very well be the most complete player in this draft. I'd like to see Edmonton take him at the 6 spot if they do not trade up.

Gagne's points were not all because of Kane...but a lot of Kane's points were because of Gagne. Who of the two do you think played more defense?
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->