The Leafs have had zero 1st-round busts since 2012

[joe dirte]

2012 - Morgan Rielly. One of this best defenseman in the league today and looks to be a perennial Norris contender. Duncan Keith 2.0.

2013 - Frédérik Gauthier. Top 4th line centre in the league and could fill in as a second line centre on a team like the Habs.

2014 - William Nylander. Elite, dynamic, explosive and one of only less than 75 players in NHL history to have back to back 60 point seasons before the age of 22.

2015 - Mitch Marner. Wow, just wow, best playmaker in the league behind McDavid.

2016 - Auston Matthews. Looking like the best player in the league, best 5v5 scorer in the league by far and is a generational player.

2017 - Timothy Liljegren. Consensus 1st overall pick of his draft class before developing mono and falling to the Leafs. On track towards becoming a top 2 offensive stud much like Erik Karlsson.

2018 - Rasmus Sandin. Still early, but he has looked great in the pre-season and his floor seems to be that of a top 4 defenseman.

Liljegren has looked okay, but a) he's not offense only, like Karlsson, he's a two way player, b) I doubt he ever scores more than 50 points in the NHL, and c) looked good last year, not "great". way too early to predict that he'll be a top pairing dman.

Sandin - also too early to say his FLOOR is that of a top 4. He could very easily not make the NHL, despite how good he looked.

 

[aufheben]

We’re not doing this meme threads again this season.