Toronto Maple Leafs: A Look At Rounds 3-7 Of The NHL Draft
It finally happened Leafs Nation, the NHL draft came and went and our beloved, long-suffering Toronto Maple Leafs have their first legitimate ‘Number One’ center since Mats Sundin.
Auston Matthews was the belle of the ball and for the first time in a long time the Maple Leafs came away with the prize. We’ll have plenty of time to talk and break down Matthews in the coming months, so in this article we’ll focus on some of the other players the Leafs have added to their pipeline.
Check out YouTuber Seer Video‘s highlight package for all 11 prospects:
We’ll take a quick peek at the entire draft class that Mark Hunter and company have assembled to give you an idea of how the Toronto Maple Leafs fared. One interesting note about the Leafs 2016 draft class to start is the clear market inefficiency that Kyle Dubas and the analytics team seem to think they have uncovered; over age players. The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted 5 “re-draft” players that had been passed over in previous drafts. Elliotte Friedman mentions this in his recent “30 Thoughts” column:
25. I’d love to see Toronto’s draft analytics. The Maple Leafs took five players who were re-entries, not taken the first time they were eligible. That’s clearly a strategy, an attempt to ride the Troy Brouwer/Carl Hagelin/Gustav Nyquist/Ondrej Palat train. There’s some research indicating those types of players are good bets in the second round and later. Clearly the Maple Leafs subscribe to that.
The thinking here being that these players can slot immediately into roles with the Toronto Marlies or Orlando Solar Bears and begin to have the Leafs strength and conditioning, nutrition, skating and skill coaches work directly with them.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are the NHL’s richest organization and spend a sizeable chunk of money on player development and the staff that help with that – this has only increased under Brendan Shanahan. It only makes sense that they would want to get their young players into their staff’s expert hands as soon as possible.
Another interesting fact from the Leafs draft this year is the plain 180 degree turn from last season. What I mean by that is in 2015 the Leafs selected nine players, six of which were under 6feet tall and four under 190lbs – three of those four coming in at under 170lbs.
Compared to the 2016 calls where the Leafs selected 11 players and only three were under 6feet tall and four under 190lbs – none under 170lbs. Many scouts and analysts felt that the Toronto Marlies got pushed around in their Calder Cup quest by bigger teams in the Albany Devils and Hershey Bears, this is clearly trying to remedy that.
Now on to the real players themselves, in reverse order of when they were drafted…
Next: Picks No.10 &11
Get To Know Nikolai Chebykin
Fwd – Undetermined Height – undetermined Weight – Age 18 (Aug 1st Birthday)
Drafted 7th Round – 182nd Overall
For their last pick of the 2016 NHL draft the Leafs went back to Russia with one of their many players that were passed over their in their first draft. Nikolai Chebykin is listed as being 6 foot and anywhere from 182lbs to 209lbs and anywhere from 6ft to 6ft3, this is the discrepancy you find sometimes in less regulated markets like Russia.
Another prospect who has a bigger frame and the speed to make use of it. A natural goal scorer, Chebykin likes to carry the puck and has a shifty wrist shot but overall has several holes in his game and will be a big project for Mark Hunter and company. Last season – his first draft eligible season – he only managed 6pts in 32 games for Russia’s top junior league the MHL. This season he led his team with 35pts in 39 games which was a nice 29pt jump.
Get To Know Nicolas Mattinen
Def – 6ft4 – 220lbs – Age 18 – Shoots Right
Drafted 6th Round – 179th Overall
Mark Hunter goes back to his own backyard in drafting the hulking London Knights defenceman. Nicolas Mattinen was buried on a deep Knights blue line, only playing in 39 games while a healthy scratch fro most of the season.
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Mattinen made good use of his limited time, scoring 4G 10pts 24PIM and going +4 over those 39 games. With some pieces of their Memorial Cup Winning team moving on, Mark Hunter clearly expects – and can influence – Mattinen getting a much more prominent role with the Knights.
Mattinen is a typical, big-bodied, stay at home defender who loves to play the body and absolutely demolish the opposition. He’s an average skater for someone of his size, but his reach and hockey IQ makes up for any lack of mobility as he is excellent at using his stick to break up plays.
Somewhat surprising for a typical stay at home defender, is his heavy NHL calibre slap shot. While he’s not going to be blowing pucks by NHL goalies with any kind of regularity, his slapshot consistently makes it through traffic and he manages to keep it low to the ice.
This makes it very difficult for goalies to control and often generates excellent rebounds and second chance opportunities for his teammates. With an early birthday and the chance for much more playing time next season, Mattinen is an intriguing late round choice with some very clear upside for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only time will tell with this prospect, but he bears watching.
Next: Picks No.8&9
Get To Know Jonathan/Jack Walker
LW/Def – 5ft11 – 170lbs – Age 19
Drafted 6th Round – 152nd Overall
One of the most confusing moments of the Toronto Maple Leafs draft was when the Leafs Twitter account announced they’d taken “D, Jonathan Walker”, while Paul Hendricks and many of the Leafs affiliated media team were tweeting and talking about the Leafs taking “LW, Jack Walker”.
It turns out they were the same as Jonathan/Jack (to be known as JJ going forward) has transitioned between forward and defence for the past four season in the WHL rather seamlessly. The media of course jumped all over the Toronto Maple Leafs “trying to get their own Brent Burns” with JJ being able to so easily transition between forward and defence.
Playing most of draft +2 season at LW, JJ scored 36G 84Pts in 72 games. He’s got speed to burn and some decent hockey IQ, another of the Leafs analytics teams overage targets will be one to keep an eye on.
Get To Know Vladimir Bobylev
RW/C – 6ft2 – 203lbs – Age 19
Drafted 5th Round – 122nd Overall
A linemate all season of Jack Walker, Vladimir Bobylev is a big Russian winger with some snarl to his game.
Head Coach of the Victoria Royals, Dave Lowry had this to say:
As with all players, Bobylev is going to have to continue to develop the consistency in his game. He’s a big-bodied guy. He skates well. He does have deceptive speed. He can play a heavy game. At one point in the year, he was also leading our team in fighting majors. He can play a big man’s game. He just needs to make sure that he continues to understand that you have to do it every day.
A big Russian, who plays the game like a “good ol’ Western Canadian boy”, Bobylev is still a relative unknown. Realistically, he’s destined for a supporting role with the Toronto Marlies and if he turns into anything more than a big, tough body, then it is a bonus.
Next: Picks No.6&7
Get To Know Keaton Middleton
D – 6ft5 – 234lbs – Age 18 – Shoots Left
Drafted 4th Round – 101st Overall
A behemoth on the blue line, Keaton is an average skater with decent passing skills. He excels at the physical aspects of the game and thrives in a shutdown role, playing heavy minutes against others teams best players every night for the Saginaw Spirit the past two seasons.
He’s shown next to no offensive inclination up to this point in his career, scoring a paltry 13 points in 127 games in the OHL. There have been suggestions that his development curve is similar to St.Louis Blues behemoth rookie sensation Colton Parayko, but that is a few years away before we can judge this pick.
Get To Know Adam Brooks
C – 5ft11 – 176lbs – Age 20 – Shoots Left
Drafted 4th Round – 92 Overall
Going back to last years formula the Leafs selected the smaller but supremely skilled Adam Brooks. Brooks led the entire WHL in scoring last season in his D+2 season, scoring 38 goals and 120pts, he followed that up by scoring 23pts in only 12 playoff games.
Adam Brooks is your typical late-blooming player, couple that with his smaller frame and it allowed the Toronto Maple Leafs to luck out in the 4th round. He’s a plus skater, with plus vision and although he doesn’t do anyone one thing that blows you away, he’s a very well-rounded player that uses his brain and elusiveness to be an offensive threat.
He also spent the last 2 seasons really developing his defensive game, and gets back on the back check to break up plays. If Adam Brooks was an inch taller, or if he was 20lbs heavier, he would’ve gone in the top-60. Brooks should join the ECHL Orlando Solar Bears as their No.1 center, potentially playing his way directly to the Marlies, so Leafs Nation will get a close look at him almost immediately.
Next: Pick No.4&5