Toronto Maple Leafs: Moving Up In The First Round

Apr 9, 2016; Newark, NJ, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly (44) skates with the puck during the first period of their game against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 9, 2016; Newark, NJ, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly (44) skates with the puck during the first period of their game against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

As the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to walk through the Eastern Conference playoffs relatively unscathed, the Toronto Maple Leafs extra first round pick continues to drop in position.

The Toronto Maple Leafs could find themselves with the 29th or 30th overall pick in the first round if things keep going the way they are for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

There are good options at that pick to get a player with high upside, but getting closer to the 10th overall pick could potential net them one of the top three defenders in the draft. That would be an ideal scenario.

Auston Matthews, Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrick Laine are going to be the top three players chosen. After that it’s a group of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Matthew Tkachuk, Alexander Nylander, Logan Brown, Jakub Chychrun, Mikahil Sergachev, Olli Juolevi and Clayton Keller that could go in any order.

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The three defenders of the group, Chychrun, Sergachev and Juolevi are players the Toronto Maple Leafs should be moving up to get.

To get one of those players, the Toronto Maple Leafs would likely have to slot in at eight, nine or ten. The Buffalo Sabres own the 8th pick, the Canadiens the 9th, and the Colorado Avalanche have the 10th.

It will be extremely difficult to make a deal with the Sabres and Canadiens. The Colorado Avalanche are the best candidate for a trade, but even at 10th one of those three defenders may not be available.

The starting point for the deal would be to include the Penguins first round pick, but how much would it cost to get to 10th overall in addition to that pick?

The players the Toronto Maple Leafs would love to deal just won’t add up to a suitable offer (Bozak, Lupul, etc.), so they would have to pony up some sort of valuable asset to make the deal happen.

What if the Toronto Maple Leafs took a player they acquired for nothing, packaged him with another player they don’t intend to utilize much in the future and added the Penguins first round pick? Would that be enough to move up nearly twenty spots to get the Colorado Avalanche pick?

How about Frank Corrado, Peter Holland and the Penguins first round pick?

Colorado gets another defender – which we all know they want. They also get, in Peter Holland, a player who has the perception of being better than he actually is. They also get to stay in the first round of the draft.

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The three defenders at the top of the draft this year are all better than Frank Corrado and I’ve already written my thoughts on Peter Holland and how he shouldn’t be re-signed. This is an upgrade move for the Toronto Maple Leafs that would bring in another top quality prospect, only on the back-end this time.

Whether or not a team like Colorado wants to move the pick in exchange for a defender already with NHL experience, plus a little extra instead of using it themselves remains to be seen. That being said, the Toronto Maple Leafs should make every effort possible to reasonably move up and chase one of the draft’s top three defenders.