Grading the draft

[Bullseye]

A-

Stand-out picks for me:

Marner
Bracco
Dzierkais@
Timashov*
Desrocher

Question marks for me:

McDermott
Nielsen
Lindgren
Korostelev

The camp invite of Joly makes perfect sense when you look at who they drafted.

@super high revving motor on this player - could be a massive find

* think they stole Timashov - this guy screams future player to me. Gut feeling.

 

[eddieO]

I would give it a B. I truly think Hanifin was the better pick and will be the better player than Marner. But, I'm happy with Marner. I think he will be awesome.

I also liked that they went with high upside guys. I'm concerned with the size of these players. However when they went after size, their drafts were terrible (Biggs, Gauthier).

I'm just glad it wasn't anything like the Gauthier draft where high upside guys were sitting right there and we went for the "big" guy. Ugh. Still cringe thinking about that pick. You can pick up 4th line centers any time you want for basically nothing.

Just nice to have a draft without Nonis at the helm.

 

[thewave]

C+ / B-

Not enough building block players acquired. To many Hail Marys on small guys.

no trades made save for 1 which was good and that's the only reason this thing gets B- consideration.

I think the draft was about as close to a failure as you can get. No legit 1c, no legit 1d found here. Just hope Nylander can hit stride as 1C because Mitch looks like a winger.

 

[Completelybroke]

Marner, Bracco and Dermott are long term projects. They are 2-3 years away from being NHL ready. It'll take time for them to fill out and potentiall grow. That is one of the down sides of picking small skilled forwards. I give it a C+ for drafts, a couple of great pick up projects that can surely make top 6 if they pan out. The D picks are a little concerning. As for trades well, I don't mind them holding onto Kessel. But I can assure you if you wanted a #1 Big C next draft it won't happen with Kessel in the line up so, the rebuild in a sense for top end talent starts at 2017.

 

[socko]

Would have liked to see the Leafs draft Hanifin and make a trade up for Barzal.

 

[-DeMo-]

one thing I'm wondering is if we made a pitch for Hamilton, I think Calgary got him for fairly cheap I hope they made an offer and Boston choose to send him out west.

 

[Porn*]

Loved it.

I really wanted Samsonov but he went early and we ended up trading down... all in all not a single pick i'm upset with. Now the waiting game to see how they mature.

 

[Burnie97]

A
Traded down and got more picks in a deep draft.
Got lucky with Bracco, and Korostelev
Interesting potential in Lindgren
I like that we did not pick low ceiling safe players or guys who are big (Biggs, Gauthier, Devane. etc)
Went for skill and skating for the most part, at the expense of size, however I don't think we draft anyone smaller than 5'10 which is no big deal to me in the new NHL.
Also very happy with the amount of picks we had compared to previous years.

I was going to write my own long reply but I read this one and I agree 100%. This right here. About time we go for more skill. Trading down was great too.

 

[Mess]

Would have liked to see the Leafs draft Hanifin and make a trade up for Barzal.

Leafs could have drafted the #3 BPA consensus player on the draft board in Hanifin, traded Gardiner (who is much more proven than Rienhart to Edmonton for #16 and #33 drafting Barzal and Travis Dermott with those Oiler picks (that NYI received in trade) and then drafted Nick Merkley with their own #24.

Then 33 picks into this draft minus Gardiner they could have had Hanifin #1D, Barzal #1C, Merkley and Dermott.

As a result of being inactive in the player trade market they ended up with just Marner after those same picks and now time will tell if Marner was the right choice over the potential near franchise Dman.

 

[thewave]

Leafs could have drafted the #3 BPA consensus player on the draft board in Hanifin, traded Gardiner (who is much more proven than Rienhart to Edmonton for #16 and #33 drafting Barzal and Travix Dermott with those Oiler picks and then drafted Nick Merkley with their own #24.

Then 33 picks into this draft minus Gardiner they could have had Hanifin #1C, Barzal #1C, Merkley and Dermott.

You get it. I think this new group choked.

 

[crump]

Glad they took Marner. So everything after is gravy. The fact they got Bracco so late and added a few picks in there was very good. Got some interesting high risk picks in there, but you have to think some of them will turn out/ get bigger. Timashov looks like a steal to me. Freakin assist machine.

 

[burpsalot]

Leafs could have drafted the #3 BPA consensus player on the draft board in Hanifin, traded Gardiner (who is much more proven than Rienhart to Edmonton for #16 and #33 drafting Barzal and Travix Dermott with those Oiler picks and then drafted Nick Merkley with their own #24.

Then 33 picks into this draft minus Gardiner they could have had Hanifin #1C, Barzal #1C, Merkley and Dermott.

As a result of being inactive in the player trade market they ended up with just Marner after those same picks and now time will tell if Marner was the right choice over the potential near franchise Dman.

Except they didn't want Hanifin (especially at centre) or Merkley & possibly not Barzal just like the other teams that let him drop to 16.

 

[Bullseye]

C+ / B-

Not enough building block players acquired. To many Hail Marys on small guys.

no trades made save for 1 which was good and that's the only reason this thing gets B- consideration.

I think the draft was about as close to a failure as you can get. No legit 1c, no legit 1d found here. Just hope Nylander can hit stride as 1C because Mitch looks like a winger.

I think you might think the same when Detroit drafted Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar etc. - they don't look like much until they develop.

The was no true #1C available this draft if you're looking for a Stamkos/Toews type player. The only guy I think could be converted into that type of guy is Mikko Rantanen after he moves to Centre next season in Finland.

The one player I'm sorry we missed is Mitchell Stephens taken by Tampa just before we took Dermott but he is is #2C.

 

[Mess]

You get it. I think this new group choked.

The interview is up on TSN with Shanny, but essentially he claimed/acknowledged they were able to get some players in this draft because they fell due to lack of size, and Leafs were willing to gamble on them as a result.

Now we have to wait 3-4 years to see how we made out.

 

[kilgore111]

A+ for Marner I would have taken him at 3

If we had kept our pick at 24 and taken Merkley or Konecny I would have givein this draft for the Leafs an A+ overall

the rest of the maneuvering for me gets a, I don't know, lukewarm B-

Here is my reasoning, it is not whether we got some decent prospects but who we did not get who were available. Not getting Merkley or Konecny hurts. Do we want a lot of very good minor leaguers or fewer but more talented NHL players?

 

[Leafs Forever]

Leafs could have drafted the #3 BPA consensus player on the draft board in Hanifin, traded Gardiner (who is much more proven than Rienhart to Edmonton for #16 and #33 drafting Barzal and Travis Dermott with those Oiler picks (that NYI received in trade) and then drafted Nick Merkley with their own #24.

Then 33 picks into this draft minus Gardiner they could have had Hanifin #1C, Barzal #1C, Merkley and Dermott.

As a result of being inactive in the player trade market they ended up with just Marner after those same picks and now time will tell if Marner was the right choice over the potential near franchise Dman.

You're making a real big presumption that Edmonton likes Gardiner enough to give up a 1st and a high 2nd.

Considering they were talking with Edmonton and did trade with them later on, I really doubt it was a case of not being active enough.

 

[Bullseye]

You get it. I think this new group choked.

Neither Barzal nor Merkley will be #1C - Barzal is a #2C and Merkely is a winger going forward.

 

[thewave]

The interview is up on TSN with Shanny, but essentially he claimed/acknowledged they were able to get some players in this draft because they fell due to lack of size, and Leafs were willing to gamble on them as a result.

Now we have to wait 3-4 years to see how we made out.

At this rate take the posters off the wall, fold the towels and put them in storage. Take the mugs and wrap them in newspaper and put them in the attic. Become a casual Leafs fan and catch a game here and there and walk away. Let it unfold but...

They did not make a single impact move here that will get us closer to a cup. They maybe did in Marner, Hanifin was the correct step in the direction of winning championships.

 

[timlap]

For me Dermott is at a similar level to Merkley and Konecny. This is a rare time when the Leafs picked a guy I was really high on, and had rated higher than other more sensible sources. Pretty darn pleased with that pick.

I really enjoyed the focus on skill and smarts. No late round guys who promise to turn into solid 4th liners one day. I never complained about those picks, but I kinda like this new philosophy.

On another note, here's my top guys who were not picked by anyone. Who did you people have left over?

1. Sebastian Aho
2. Veini Vehvilainen
3. Brett McKenzie
4. Dante Salituro
5. Adam Werner
6. Pius Suter
7. Casey Fitzgerald
8. Dryden Hunt
9. Yegor Rykov
10. Tyler Soy
11. Nathan Noel
12. Loik Leveille
13. Liam Herbst
14. Vladimir Tkachev
15. Vyacheslav Leshchenko
16. Fredrik Forsberg
17. Grant Gabriele
18. Artem Volkov
19. Lucas Carlsson
20. Justin Lemcke

 

[thewave]

Neither Barzal nor Merkley will be #1C - Barzal is a #2C and Merkely is a winger going forward.

That's fantastic in my eyes. We need a lot of things and Nylander is more C able than Marner. Top 6 guys... We have nobody save for Kadri and JVR. Everyone else they want to move out.

I can totally seeing this as becoming a retool team. Rebuild teams don't give a **** if they take a lesser pick when dumping players. They just do it and trust the scouts.

 

[frost king]

Out of the 50 smallest players in the draft, we took 5 of them. That is scary to think of. When it comes time for team pictures, Gauthier is going to have to be on his knees to fit in. First chance, and Hunter picks a team of Midget size players.

 

[burpsalot]

That's fantastic in my eyes. We need a lot of things and Nylander is more C able than Marner. Top 6 guys... We have nobody save for Kadri and JVR. Everyone else they want to move out.

I can totally seeing this as becoming a retool team. Rebuild teams don't give a **** if they take a lesser pick when dumping players. They just do it and trust the scouts.

How about giving a ****, get higher picks & trusting the scouts. That's only a little different then your plan.

 

[Woodman19]

Out of the 50 smallest players in the draft, we took 5 of them. That is scary to think of. When it comes time for team pictures, Gauthier is going to have to be on his knees to fit in. First chance, and Hunter picks a team of Midget size players.

Well I prefer small players in the playoffs to big ones on the golf course.

 

[thewave]

How about giving a ****, get higher picks & trusting the scouts. That's only a little different then your plan.

Well there is clearly a disconnect between our guys evaluation and the league. Not even 1 deal was made and we dangled it all out there. Not a single deal.

Something is wrong and there was reports that our camp was out of touch or something just days before.

 

[Razz]

B+ for me.

Pros

- Great picks, stuck to the plan of drafting skill
- Trading down in a deep draft to obtain two extra picks worked out brilliantly
- No more NCAA projects that never see the light of day

Cons

- Going off the board here but I am not a fan of the Marincin trade. I would rather have used the pick instead. Marincin was just an asset recoup for the Oilers, not sure why everyone is so excited for a fringe NHLer. Hope I'm wrong.
- No play for picks in the mid 1st round. Seemed like teams were looking to deal.


Overall though, I thought this the best draft the Leafs have made that I can ever recall. No more drafting for size, or "character" and really focusing on the core attributes that matter. If we end up with a glut of skill, then the Leafs will be able to keep upgrading their talent pool for years to come. UFA guys will always be there for the "character", so it's nice that they recognize that and focused on what really matters for long term success.

It would be nice for a change some time down the road if a team breaks the bank on a 2nd or 3rd round pick of ours because the Leafs can't fit the player in. Wouldn't that be fun?