Carson Trask
With the Leafs picking as late as they did in the first round, its hard to get overly excited about their draft performance.
I’ve been advocating that now was the right time to use draft picks as capital in trades. The Leafs need help at centre and on D. Trading draft picks could have really helped with that.
The Leafs have also shown a tendency in recent drafts to select overage players. This strategy hasn’t worked out well. But, the trend continued this year. Sean Durzi, selected 52nd overall, went undrafted a year ago. As did fourth-round pick Mac Hollowell. Both players were invited to development camp last summer, where they clearly made an impression.
The Leafs stick to their board regardless of the players age. Let’s see if they have better luck with this year’s overage picks.
What I did like was Kyle Dubas trading down in the first round. Any time you have multiple players on the board that you like, it makes sense to sacrifice a few spots in order to get some more assets. I’m sure there was old school “hockey guys” who were saying Mark Hunter wouldn’t have traded down. But, it just made sense.
Overall my first thought was that the Leafs draft was just okay. Nothing to get overly excited about. We won’t know for a few years whether this draft was a success or not. Chances are, less than half these players will ever play for the Leafs.
One thing, however, is for certain. Dubas has a plan, and he is sticking to it.