The Toronto Maple Leafs draft 25th on Friday.
That is, if they keep the pick. And there is no guarantee that they will, since a late first round prospect is years away from helping the team, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in win-now mode.
Only in Toronto would this even be debated. The Leafs finished sixth overall (tied with Cup winners the Washington Capitals) and played 25% of the season without their best players. (Auston Matthews who missed 20 games).
If the team you tied with in the standings over 82 games wins the Cup, you’re not rebuilding. If you finish top ten in the standings, you’re not rebuilding. If you have two of the NHL’s best players and neither of them has a cap-hit, you’re definitely not rebuilding.
Now that we’ve established that the Leafs are going to go for it, the question is ‘how do they do it?’
Toronto Maple Leafs Needs
The Leafs have a good team, one with lots of depth and talent. Their blueline is in need of an upgrade, however. They cannot enter next season with Ron Hainsey on the first pairing (or on the team at all, hopefully), and they certainly can’t have such bad defense from their forwards next season.
Without knowing if they have a shot at Tavares they may have to wait to make any significant moves. Unless Tavares re-signs with the Islanders before the draft, the Leafs won’t know for sure which direction they want to go in.
It is a foregone conclusion that they are going to try and sign Tavares. But you have to assume that whether or not they do will affect their priorities for the offseason.
For example, if they sign Tavares, Nylander is definitely a winger. If they don’t maybe he’s a centre. If the get Tavares, maybe it’s not as much of a priority to get a better ‘shutdown’ centre than Nazem Kadri. If they can’t count on possession dominance from a 1-2 Matthews/Tavares combo, are they more inclined to look to improve their ‘shutdown’ centre ? Kadri is a great player, but he’s no Bergeron/Staal and the Leafs’ biggest weakness is their forward’s overall terrible defense.
Without knowing how the Tavares thing is going to go, there are questions that can’t be answered, but some things are clear: the Leafs need at least one, hopefully two excellent defensive forwards.
They also need up to three right-handed defenseman (depending on their thoughts on Hainsey, Carrick and Liljegren).
I would very surprised if the Leafs failed to make a trade or two at the Draft this week. The Leafs have all their draft picks (some from other teams, but they have seven going into Friday), some tradable prospects, and a deep offensive team that is full of wingers.
With so many options and a need to win now, I would expect the Leafs to be active in the trade market leading up to, and at, the draft.