Toronto Maple Leafs Draft Criticism Is Ridiculous

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rasmus Sandin 29th overall Friday night at the NHL Entry Draft in Dallas.

As is to be expected, not everyone loved the pick that the Toronto Maple Leafs made.

But, keep in mind when taking in these opinions, that even though people watch the NHL every night, their opinions are mostly bad. How much can you trust what people say about players they’ve never even seen or heard of?  I even suggest you take everything I am about to say with a grain of salt – I’ve never seen Rasmus Sandin play, and I only recently even heard of him.

By all accounts, the Toronto Maple Leafs got a good player with a ton of potential.  Sandin – who I knew nothing about besides what I read in an article I edited for the site a couple weeks ago – scored an impressive .93 points-per-game in the OHL last season that ranks him among a lot of current and past NHL stars.

As you can see from the above tweet, Sandin’s points per game at the same age were higher than Ekblad (#1 overall) PK Subba, Alex Pietrangelo, and several other excellent NHL defenseman. Add in the fact that Sandin was not on the first power-play unit this year, and that he was adjusting to North American sized ice for the first time, and it’s even more impressive.

That sums up everything I know about Sandin.  Everything I know says he’s impressive for his age and will only get better.  I mean, if that’s what he does at 17/18 while in his first year in NA, then I am psyched.

Criticism

Some people have been very vocal about not liking this pick.  There are two main criticisms, and I’ll deal with them in order.

#1 the Leafs Passed on Better Payers to take Sandin

They very well could have.  If you have a top three pick, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a good player.  After that, might as well flip a coin.  Yes, there were higher ranked players on the board.  And yes, they might one day be better than Sandin.  But the Leafs – who have more information at their disposal than anyone else (that isn’t at the actual draft) – don’t think so.

I hate to appeal to the experts. It’s a logical fallacy, and my job is literally to criticize experts and second guess their ideas.  However, there are no stats or video (at least I don’t watch it) to help me level the playing field here.  When it comes to drafting, my opinion is based largely on what I think of the GM.  There are exceptions (drafting a slow but large centre who is projected to be a fourth liner in the first round – aka Gauthier – seemed dumb at the time and has played out that way) but by and large, I don’t have the information to make relevant judgements.

I like Dubas, so I figure he knows better than I do on whether or not the Leafs drafted a good player. Slippery slope for sure, and I won’t love everything he does, but for this specific example, I have to trust him. Then again, it’s the 29th pick. I don’t love it or hate it, I’m ambivalent. My opinion starts and stops with the idea that drafting puck moving defenseman – if you’re picking out of a group of similarly ranked players – is probably correct.

People wanted Joe Veleno. He is a centre, and some people are high on him.  But who is actually informed enough about the available players to warrant being so critical?   For 99% of people, this is completely arbitrary.  The Leafs had a chance to take him, and they took the defenseman over a guy that people have wildly divergent opinions on.

This is a non issue. If the Leafs didn’t take the guy you wanted, just relax.

#2 the Leafs Drafted ANOTHER Defenseman

This I truly do not understand.  How can you have too many defenseman?  People are saying ‘the Leafs are weak down the middle and on right defense, why draft another lefty defenseman?’

The reason is simple: you can’t have too many puck-moving defenseman, and caring what hand a player is at draft time is insane.  Sure, you need wingers, centres and goalies, but if your defense is mobile and good at moving the puck, each of those guys will be better for it.

Right hand, left hand, who cares? You take guys with talent.

Yeah, there’s Gardiner, Rielly, Dermott and they’re all left handed.  So are Andrew Neilson, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman and Martin Marincin.

But so what?

Players come and go. Everything is fluid and you can’t predict the future.  Maybe a lefty plays the right side (Hainsey) or maybe a player gets traded.  Some will work out, some won’t.

And you never know what your needs will be in three years.  If you draft by position, you’re passing (potentially) on better players to fill needs you have now but won’t by the time the player is ready.

It’s incredibly myopic and not at all smart.

Given the importance of puck moving defenseman, unless you have a shot at a top-line blue-chipper, you might as well take the puck moving defenseman.

Next: Evaluating the Leafs Draft Picks

So, to sum up: the criticisms about who the Leafs picked are ridiculous.  No one claiming that they should have taken Veleno knows what they’re talking about, and their reasoning is spurious at best.  Even worse is complaining about the drafting of a defeneseman.