Toronto Maple Leafs: 2017 Draft Round-By-Round Recap
1st Round – Timothy Liljegren, D (17th Overall)
I’m not ashamed to admit that I went nuts when the Leafs took Liljegren at 17th last year.
For two years prior to the 2017 NHL Draft, Liljegren was constantly being projected as a top three pick. Due to the fact that he suffered from Mono in his draft year, his draft stock dipped a little bit. But nobody could have expected him to drop out of the 15.
I know in my case at least, it was kind of like “Okay, not in the top five. Not in the top 10 either. Okay, not even in the top 15? Wow.” and then when the Leafs were on the clock and Liljegren hadn’t been taken, it was like “no way.”
But alas, it happened.
Liljegren had a pretty solid first campaign with the Calder-cup winning Toronto Marlies. He put up 19 points in 44 games, which are pretty good totals considering the fact that he was 18 years old for the majority of the season. He will likely spend one more season in the AHL with the inevitable promotion of Travis Dermott and maybe Justin Holl, and then make his full time NHL debut for the 2019-2020 season.
2nd Round – Eemeli Rasanen , D (59th Overall)
The Leafs did lots of shuffling in terms of their 2017 second rounder.
Their original second round pick went to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the deal that brought Brian Boyle to Toronto. They used that pick to select Alexander Volkov at 48th overall. The Anaheim Ducks recieved the San Jose Sharks’ second round pick, which was initially sent to Toronto in the deal that sent Roman Polak and Nick Spaling to San Jose. The Ducks used that pick to select Maxime Comtois at 50th overall.
The Leafs’ pick at 59th overall initially belonged to the Ottawa Senators, but they received it as part of the deal that sent Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa in February of 2016. The Leafs’ used the Senators’ pick to select Eemeli Rasanen.
The first thing you’ll notice about Rasanen is that he’s an absolute tower on the ice. He stands at 6’7 and 209lbs and has the physicality to go along with it. He’s also pretty solid offensively, putting up 33 points in 61 games for the Kingston Frontenacs this season. Rasanen recently signed with Jokerit of the KHL, so we’ll be able to see how he fares in the pros next season.
3rd Round – No Selections
The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t have a pick in the third round last year. They traded their pick to the Detroit Red Wings for Mike Babcock. It’s always weird and unusual when a team trades a draft pick for a manager, but it seems to happen quite frequently – at least with the Leafs.
After the Leafs hired Mike Babcock in May of 2015, they forfeited their 2017 third round pick as compensation. The Red Wings used that pick to select Lane Zablocki at 79th overall. A similar occurrence happened when the Leafs had to send a third round pick to the Devils for signing Lou Lamoriello.
The Leafs were able to make up for these lost draft picks over the past few years by maximizing their draft picks by trading players during the rebuilding process, and by trading down as they did in 2015.
4th Round – Ian Scott, G (110th Overall) and Vladislav Kara, C/LW (124th Overall)
After having one pick or less in each of the first three rounds, the Maple Leafs owned two picks in the fourth round.
Their first fourth round pick was their own, and they used it to select goaltender Ian Scott.
When you look up Scott’s stats online, you more than likely won’t be impressed. Between his three seasons in the WHL, he didn’t see a save percentage above .900 or a goals against average below 3.00. But we’ll give Scott the benefit of the doubt seeing that he never really got the chance to play for a good team. He played for the Prince Albert Raiders, who never really took off while Scott played for them. That being said, he will likely return to the WHL for one more season, and whether or not he spends it with the Raiders we will be able to get a good look at him.
Kara was kind of a random selection at 124th overall (obtained in the trade that sent Frank Corrado to Pittsburgh), but we kind of expected that seeing their draft history. Since revamping their scouting team in 2015, we’ve the Maple Leafs take at least one random prospect from Eastern Europe each year. It was Martins Dzierkals in 2015, Yegor Korshkov and Nikolai Chebykin in 2016, and Kara in 2017.
A centre/left wing hybrid, Kara spent the majority of the season in the VHL (essentially the Russian equivalent of the AHL) and put up 15 points in 33 games, an improvement from last season. He also appeared in 11 KHL games for Ak-Bars Kazan, but didn’t put up any points. It will be interesting to see where he spends this season, and also to see whether or not the Leafs make a pick like this in the 2018 draft, seeing that Mark Hunter is gone.
5th Round – Fedor Gordeev, D (141st Overall)
Gordeev has kind of an interesting story.
Everything about him screams Russian. But Gordeev is actually a Canadian citizen and grew up playing in Canada. He played his second full OHL season this year and put up 25 points in 67 games. These aren’t horrible totals seeing that he’s not really an offensive defenseman, but if he’s going to make any sort of noise in the Leafs’ organization then it’s going to be in the form of a long-term project.
At the same time, though, he has a better chance at climbing up the defensive depth chart now that former draft picks Keaton Middleton and Nicolas Mattinen weren’t tendered contracts and will re-enter the draft.
6th Round – Ryan McGregor, C (172nd Overall)
The Maple Leafs decided to go with a Southern Ontarian boy in McGregor last year.
Growing up as a Maple Leafs fan, his totals from his draft year didn’t exactly jump off the board at you, but he had plenty of reasons that favoured selecting him. He plays a very strong two-way game and also seems to possess above-average leadership qualities, seeing that he was named an alternate captain at the age of 17.
He had a successful season this year, putting up 32 points in 50 games. He also really turned in on in the playoffs, putting up 10 points in 12 games for the Sting. He will return to the OHL next season and it will be interesting to see how he develops in his fourth OHL season.
7th Overall – Ryan O’Connell, D (203rd Overall)
This was probably the most interesting of the Leafs’ picks for a few reasons.
The first thing you’d notice about him is where he spent his draft year. He spent the season playing for St. Andrew’s College of the CISAA/CAHS. The Leafs essentially selected him from a Canadian high school, which is very, very uncommon in the NHL.
He spent this past season playing for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL, putting up a respectable 14 points in 26 games. In recent news, however, O’Connell committed to Ohio State University of the NCAA. It will be interesting to see how he fares playing where many top draft picks spend their draft year.
The draft is right around the corner, and times are exciting. I hope you enjoyed this recap.
All statistics and information obtained from eliteprospects.com and hockeydb.com