Toronto Maple Leafs: 2019 NHL Draft Recap

2nd Round, 53rd Overall – Nick Robertson (LW, Peterborough Petes, OHL)

This pick right here is very, very good in my opinion. Robertson was projected by some scouts and experts to be a first-round pick. While he’s on the smaller side, standing at 5’9 and 160lbs, he’s an offensive juggernaut all around and is one of the hardest workers in the draft. He has very good puck skills and hockey IQ and rarely ever stops moving his feet during the game. He’s also one of the youngest players in the draft, born four days before the cutoff for 2019 eligibility.

Playing for the Peterborough Petes of the OHL, he broke out this season and put up 55 points in 54 games. He’s also the younger brother of Dallas Stars prospect Jason Robertson, who more than likely just finished up his final season in the OHL after a number of incredible offensive campaigns.

While the younger Robertson will likely spend at least another year or two in the minors, he has top-six potential and could end up being a high reward pick for the Maple Leafs if his development goes smoothly.

3rd Round, 84th Overall – Mikko Kokkonen (D, Jukurit, SM-Liiga)

After taking a left winger with their first pick, the Leafs moved on to the back end in the third round and selected defenseman Mikko Kokkonen. The 5’11, 198lb left-handed d-man spent this season playing for Jukurit of the SM-Liiga and had a pretty successful season that saw him put up 19 points in 56 games. These are impressive totals when you consider his age and the competition of that league.

Kokkonen has been described by scouts as a very reliable player who doesn’t make too many noticeable mistakes in his own end. He’s also an effective powerplay quarterback with a quick wrist shot and effective passing ability.

The Maple Leafs already have a pretty stacked prospect pool on the back end with names such as Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren being the most notable, but what sets Kokkonen apart from the others is the sheer fact that he isn’t the flashiest of players, but plays an honest and simple game while not making too many mistakes.

He’s under contract with Jukurit for next season so it’s likely he will remain overseas for the first year of his development, but it’s also possible the Leafs give him a shot with the Marlies at some point so they can monitor him closely.

4th Round, 115th Overall – Mikhail Abramov (C, Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL)

Forward, defenseman, and now back to forward.

At 115th overall, the Maple Leafs selected Moscow native Mikhail Abramov. The Russian playmaker plays centre but can also play right wing, and just finished his first season playing overseas. In 62 games with the Victoriaville Tigres, he put up an impressive 54 points.

He turned heads before the season even started, putting up seven points in five games representing Finland at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, and then made his CHL debut where he would finish third on the team in scoring as a rookie.

The main scoop on Abramov is the fact that he’s a talented playmaker and an above average skater, but needs to get stronger and work on his shot.

Like Robertson, Abramov is another undersized, skilled forward standing at 5’10 and 161lbs. Thanks to Auston Matthews and John Tavares, the Maple Leafs are more or less set up the middle for the next seven or so years, but it would be nice to see Abramov develop into a skilled middle six centre or even play the wing if it makes more sense based on the depth chart.

He will likely head back to the QMJHL for another season to work on the weaknesses of his game and hone his skills before he makes the pros.

4th Round, 124th Overall – Nick Abruzzese (LW, Chicago Steel, USHL)

While lots of Leafs fans expect the team to select nothing but defensemen, the Buds are also short on depth on the left side. So along with Robertson, the Leafs went with another left winger in Nick Abruzzese in the fourth round. A bit of a red flag came up when the Leafs went semi-off the board to grab him at 124th, especially seeing that he has a 1999 birthday, but it would seem the Leafs are hoping for him to become a late-bloomer with high upside.

Abruzzese only truly broke out this season when he put up 80 points in 62 games for the Chicago Steel of the USHL, but he’s been touted as a very smart player who can play any forward position and has a knack for playmaking.

While undersized at 5’9 and 163lbs, Abruzzese has the raw skill to make up for it and his fate as a professional hockey player will be determined based on whether or not he can become stronger during his development. He’s committed to play for Harvard University next season, and will likely play out most of his development there until the Leafs decide they’re ready to bring him into the organization.

5th Round, 146th Overall – Mike Koster (D, Chaska High, USHS)

This pick right here is one of those picks that could turn out to be a high-risk, high reward type.

Koster absolutely lit up his high school league last season, putting up 59 points in 24 games from the back end. But there’s always a little extra risk involved with selecting a high school player because the level of competition isn’t as high as that in the juniors or college level. He finished off his season playing for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL where he was asked to adapt to a new system and play a more defensively responsible game, and finished with six points in 15 games.

Like all of the other prospects the Leafs drafted in 2019, he’s not an imposing physical threat on the ice, standing at 5’9 and 172lbs, but some scouts had him ranked as high as a second rounder due to his hockey IQ, passing ability, and overall raw skill from the back end.

Koster was also able to use his time with Tri-City as an example to improve his defensive game, and he did just that. This was huge for him considering that his defensive game was once one of his biggest weaknesses. He’s committed to play for the University of Minnesota next season, and should be able to become a solid puck-moving defenseman in the pros if he does a good job of improving in his grey areas during his development.

7th Round, 204th Overall – Kalle Loponen (D, Hermes, Mestis)

The Leafs were originally supposed to have two seventh-round picks, but instead, they traded their other pick (slotted to be at 208th overall) to the St Louis Blues in exchange for a seventh rounder in 2020. Loponen saw one game in the SM-Liiga but spent the majority of his season playing in their Mestis league (essentially the Finnish version of the AHL) with Hermes.

The 5’11 right-handed defenseman put up 12 points in 30 games playing there.

While most Leafs fans will probably groan at the fact that he’s another undersized player, he likes to prove on the ice that his size doesn’t mean anything. Loponen doesn’t shy away from contact and he isn’t afraid to go into the dirty areas. He’s a competitive player and has potential to pitch in offensively while maintaining a steady defensive game, but like most of their other 2019 draftees, he needs to get stronger and improve his positional game.

That being said, Loponen just signed an extension with Karpat of the SM-Liiga, a team that’s known to be the hardest to crack as a rookie. That alone should tell you that the Leafs might have found a gem in the late rounds of the draft. You can never have too many back end prospects, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up on the depth chart.

I know there are likely a decent amount of Leafs fans who won’t like this draft class for one reason, and that’s the fact that all six picks ended up being players under 6’0. But with that being said, I would like to remind everybody that you don’t draft for size. Sure, having bigger guys on the ice during the playoffs could be important, but guys like that are a dime a dozen in free agency and via trade. Kyle Dubas said it best back in 2015 prior to drafting Mitch Marner. In the end, all that matters is that you take the best player available. It’s much, much easier to draft skill and trade for size than to draft size and trade for skill.

If you go back to the 2016 Leafs draft class, you’ll notice a ton of guys who were at least 6’3 or taller. And almost none of those guys have even cracked the AHL yet. This includes prospects like Keaton Middleton, Nicolas Mattinen, and Nikolai Chebykin. The former two aren’t even with the organization anymore.

Am I saying that all bigger players are busts? Absolutely not. But to criticize the Leafs’ draft class because they’re all undersized is nothing short of absurd. These kids are all 17 or 18 years old, meaning they aren’t necessarily done growing. Especially with the changes in today’s NHL moving from a physical league to a skilled league, drafting players just because their height begins with a “6′” is not the way to go. Time will tell if these prospects become anything, but overall I would say the Leafs drafted a solid crop of new talent and it will be interesting to see how these guys develop and grow in the organization.

All statistics obtained from eliteprospects.com