Toronto Maple Leafs: Checking in on the 2015 NHL Entry Draft

The Toronto Maple Leafs have drafted well in recent years.

Of course, with so many top picks, it’d be kind of hard not to, but regardless, the Toronto Maple Leafs have recently cleaned up in the draft.

Starting with Rielly in 2012, the Leafs went on to draft Nylander, Matthews and Marner and – for really the first time in the draft era – built their team primarily through the draft.

But wile top picks are sexy, it’s the later rounds that really make or break a franchise.  Where would the Dynasties of the Blackhawks and Penguins have been without picking hall of famers Kris Letang and Duncan Keith beyond the first round?

With that in mind, let’s check in on the Leafs 2015 draft and see how they did.

Toronto Maple Leafs 2015 Draft

Famously this is the draft the Leafs did prior to hiring Lou Lamoriello.  The draft was run by Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter.

The first pick, Mitch Marner was a homerun.  Everyone loves it now, but I remember a lot of old-school types who were angry the Leafs didn’t go for Noah Hannifin as Coach Mike Babcock had hoped.

The second pick was Travis Dermott.  This was also a homerun. At worst, a triple. Dermott looks like he has at least the potential to be a top-pairing force.  The Leafs traded down and got a second pick, which allowed the Flyers to draft Travis Konecny.

Looks like a good trade, and that’s straight up without even considering the bonus pick.

The third pick, but second of the second round,  was Jeremy Bracco, the kind of undersized highly skilled winger who is available essentially for free every year in the second or third round.  Bracco has first round talent and at 22 just scored 79 points in 72 games for the Marlies.  He will almost certainly become an above average NHL player.

The fourth pick, the first of two third-rounders the Toronto Maple Leafs had in 2015 was used on Andrew Neilson, a big defenseman of the type the Leafs don’t seem to have interest in now that Mark Hunter has left the organization.  Neilson appears to be a bust and now plays for Calgary’s AHL team.

With their next third rounder, the Leafs took Martin Dzierkals.  The Leafs still own the rights to the skilled forward but he is not under contract.  (capfriendly.com is a great resource for this type of stuff and is providing this and most other information for this article).

In the fourth round, the Leafs grabbed defenseman Jesper Lindgren who they have signed, and who has become one of the most underrated prospects in the system.  Notably he is small and skilled, as opposed to the large and slow variety.

In the fifth round, the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Dmytro Timashov, a player who is gaining a growing following.  10 points in 13 games and a reputation as a good defensive player makes him one of the more intriguing Leafs prospects.

In the sixth and seventh rounds, the Leafs picked Stephan Desrocher, and Nikita Korostelev.  Neither player is still with the Leafs.

So, overall, the Leafs had nine picks in seven rounds.  Impressive, but remember they were selling off anything valuable for anything they could get at the time.

Of the nine picks, six are still with the organization.  Two of the three who are gone are large, defense first d-men that the organization doesn’t seem to value any longer.

Five of the six are under contract, one of them appears to be of Hall of Fame potential, and two more project to top-four/top-six status.

Of the six, at least five – Marner, Dermott, Bracco, Tymashov, and Lindgren – appear to be sure-fire NHLers.

That is an excellent draft.  There is a very good chance that the 2015 draft could eventually be seen as one of the best in Leafs history.