Toronto Maple Leafs Have Lots of Options in the 2nd Round

Day Two of the NHL Entry Draft is here and the Toronto Maple Leafs will finally be on the clock in under an hour.

After a lackluster Day One of the draft which saw minimal movement, many are expecting a hectic Day Two.  For Toronto Maple Leafs fans, we will finally see the team announce a selection after a quiet first round where the Leafs did not have their own pick, which was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in the Jake Muzzin deal.

Even though the Leafs didn’t have a first-round pick, they could very well still be getting a first round talent at the 53rd overall selection.

Lots of highly skilled, first round talent has somehow fallen into the second round. If Toronto wants one of these players, they will have to trade up to have a shot. It does appear the Leafs could be interested, however, after Pierre Dorion let it slip that he had, in fact, had trade negotiations with Kyle Dubas last night.

Ottawa owns the 32nd overall pick, the first selection of Day Two. Could the Leafs be looking to move up to get 100 point scorer in the OHL Arthur Kaliyev?

Or point-per-game power forward Raphael Lavoie out of the QMJHL? How about the diminutive but electric winger Bobby Brink from the USHL?

If Toronto chooses to stay put in the 53rd position, they will still have lots of talent available.

There are bound to be names higher up that fall, but some intriguing names that should be available at pick 53 include Jamieson Rees, Maxim Cajkovic, Samuel Fagemo, and Artemi Knyazev.

Dubas could go forward or defence here, but there are plenty of both available. Up front, Sarnia Sting Jamieson Rees would have gotten lots of attention from Leafs scouts while watching draft pick Ryan McGregor, who is now a free agent. Rees is a 5-foot-11 center who scored 32 points in 37 games in the OHL this season, limited due to a lacerated kidney.

Maxim Cajkovic has underrated analytics pick written all over him. On a terrible Saint John Sea Dogs team, Cajkovic only scored 46 points in 60 games in the high scoring QMJHL after being the number one selection in the Import Draft.

Despite the less than ideal numbers on paper, Cajkovic was involved in a large percentage of his team’s scoring. The next highest scoring player on Saint John was 12 points behind Cajkovic, making him a sneaky good player on a bad team.

Recently, Toronto hasn’t been afraid to draft overage players and could have an intriguing target in Samuel Fagemo. The 19-year-old Swedish winger tore up the SHL in his rookie season, posting 14 goals and 25 points. It may not seem like much, but the SHL is a low scoring league and 25 points as a 19-year-old is production to be expected from a first round talent, not an undrafted player.

For comparison, Andreas Johnsson scored 15 goals and 25 points in his first year in the SHL. Coincidentally, both come from the Frolunda system, one of the best organizations in Sweden.

Finally, if Dubas elects to go towards defence, Artemi Knyazev from Chicoutimi is an excellent option. Knyazev needed an adjustment to the QMJHL after coming over from Russia but found his game over the course of the season and finished with 34 points in 55 games. Knyazev fits the mold of player that the Leafs have been interested in the recent past: Smooth skating, good in transition, and offensively talented.

These are just a few names that the Toronto Maple Leafs could select at pick number 53, but there is plenty of talk going on at Day Two of the draft. We’ve already seen Patrick Marleau and P.K. Subban traded, I’m sure there’s plenty more to come.