Confirmed with Link: Lindsay Hofford Leaves Leafs | Hired as AGM & Dir. Of Scouting By ARI

Brobust

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
6,866
6,299
I thought 2018 was pretty sketchy, I've got some concerns about Durzi and SDA, Hollowell before the 6th or 7th round is straight up mind bending as well

I don't have a lot of love for any of the last 3 drafts outside of the 1st round

I thought 2018's later rounds were a step up compared to previous years.

2017 was so bad that you can already call it a disaster. McGregor? Ian Scott? Even one of the more well regarded picks at the time, Rasanen, kind of stagnated. 2017 would have been absolutely brutal if Liljegren didn't fall.
 

SeaOfBlue

The Passion That Unites Us All
Aug 1, 2013
35,591
16,773
I thought 2018 was pretty sketchy, I've got some concerns about Durzi and SDA, Hollowell before the 6th or 7th round is straight up mind bending as well

I don't have a lot of love for any of the last 3 drafts outside of the 1st round

There were some good players and picks out of that draft, but I think the Leafs drafting staff still has a lot of room for improvement, especially with some of the guys who may not be sticking around past this year. We do well in Europe, especially Sweden, but North America is really iffy. At least in the OHL.

We did not draft much out of the QMJHL. US has done pretty well, which is probably why Lilley got a promotion. We don't go there very often though. WHL has improved with Speltz and Derkatch added to Malarchuk. Malarchuk's track record is hit or miss, but he knows his stuff and Speltz being there should help him out a lot. I am just not impressed with what could have come out of the OHL.

The good/bad news is with Hofford gone, we are totally changing who is scouting the heart of the OHL. We have great guys for Southern and US OHL (and the USDP/NCAA) + Northern Ontario. Just need someone for inbetween.
 

diceman934

Help is on the way.
Jul 31, 2010
17,317
4,121
NHL player factory
How many of those 2nd rounders make it to the AHL? I'm not talking about making it to the NHL. That is just down to a numbers game and how well you can develop them. If they consitently develop at a reasonable clip and still can not make it, I do not even count that as a loss. For example, if Timashov ends up not making it, I would not call him a bad pick or even blame the development team.

In 2015, 9 out of 15 players (excluding Korostelev and Desrocher) drafted out of the CHL after Desrocher at least made it to the AHL with the team that drafted them (i.e. their rights did not expire). 7 out of 14 after Mattinen in the 2016 draft. 54% between those drafts is not an amazing number, and obviously most (if not all) of them will probably not even make it to the NHL or even become great AHL players, but at least they made it there. Leafs went 0/3 with one having an asterisk due to injury (Korostelev).

In my books, if you are drafted out of the CHL and do not at least make it to the AHL, it was a bad pick unless there is a really unfortunate circumstance like an injury that totally killed them. Of course, as you get to earlier rounds, those expectations get higher.

Hitting on a top 5 pick and also doing well on Dermott in the 2015 draft is nice work, but it is pretty average considering the amount of praise Hunter/Hofford received for being some elite scout and the number of picks he totally whiffed on as well. I would expect most scouts who can not do something similar to that end up fired eventually. Dubas should and can do better than at least Hofford in that region if we are going based on his Leafs track record to date.
Ever heard of the 50 contract rule. All picks a team makes could play in the AHL if you have the contracts to give them. We had a lot of Potential NHL players playing in the AHL as our record shows. Weak teams will see more drafted players play in the AHL as we seen under Burke and company yet they do nothing but take up a contract space that you can give to others who were not drafted but there is value in them.

One more point Lou has always believed that you only offer contracts to players who could be NHL players and as well always kept contracts space open to be able to pounce on players who become available during the season. Do you remember Lou cams in and cleared away contracts in the AHL almost immediately opening up contract space.

Not everything is as it seems.
 
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SprDaVE

Moderator
Sep 20, 2008
51,546
32,305
They also made some changes to their R&D department. Darryl Metcalf is now the Director of Hockey Research & Development (Kyle Dubas was the director before getting the GM title). They also hired Lauren Moriyama to their R&D department. Lauren is from Toronto and played womens hockey for Yale.

I'm sure they will replace Hoffords spot soon. No idea who to expect in that role... but it's a very important one.
 
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francis246

Registered User
Nov 16, 2007
12,661
15,488
Aside from the slam dunk first rounders and Travis Dermott, none of our drafts from 2015-2018 have yielded anything yet.

Have you've seen our roster? None of those forwards are better than our current group. But there are guys who can play, Dzerkals and Bracco can play
 

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