Toronto Maple Leafs: EIL Content Roundup – August 20th

The season is officially over for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But that doesn’t mean the content must stop. Yes, although the Maple Leafs may not be playing actual hockey games anymore, the Editor in Leaf staff have been working around the clock to ensure that every angle from every offseason topic has been covered.

With so many pieces hitting the wall all at once, it’s natural that a few may have fallen through the cracks. So, let’s take a look at some of the past week’s most intriguing pieces.

What Do the Toronto Maple Leafs Have in Mike Koster?

The Maple Leafs have executed a very different drafting strategy over the years.

Under Mark Hunter, it was all about the hulking, slow behemoths who already possessed pro-ready bodies. Those didn’t work out so well. Under Kyle Dubas, however, the modus operandi has been to spend mid- to late-round picks on small, skilled players with high developmental ceilings whose enticing potential could be unlocked with some hard work and care. This strategy has seemingly worked out a bit better.

So, where does Mike Koster fit? Drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 draft, Koster has some interesting tools and a long runway of expected collegiate experience upon which to develop them.

Josh tries to answer what this kid’s ceiling is in his latest piece.

“While Koster was taken in the fifth round of the draft, he still could be a steal for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has shown during his time with Chaska High School and the Tri-City Storm that ha could be an asset for an NHL club. Sure, there is a long shot of Koster cracking an NHL lineup one day, but if his development goes well then he could be of value for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the future.

Last season, Koster appeared in 55 regular-season games. Sixteen of those games were played with Team Northeast of the UMHSEHL. During that stint, he posted two goals and ten assists. Koster also played in three playoff games and mustered up two goals.”

Rasmus Sandin Will Make the Toronto Maple Leafs

I think it’s safe to say that no one, not even his most ardent supporters, could have predicted that Rasmus Sandin’s rookie season in professional hockey would go as well as it ultimately did. The kid wasn’t even old enough to legally buy a drink in Canada and yet, despite struggling early on with injuries followed by a brief midseason getaway to the WJC, entrenched himself as the Marlies’ number one defenceman and ended the year logging over 30 mins per night in the AHL’s Eastern Conference Finals.

That simply doesn’t happen. At least, not to middle-of-the-road prospects. Sandin proved that he has A LOT to give and the Maple Leafs may only have seen a glimpse of it.

In his latest piece, James argues that Sandin’s breakout will earn him a spot on the Maple Leafs right away.

“But what makes this production so incredible is that at his age, he’s not even supposed to be in the AHL.  The Leafs were only able to place him there because he was on loan from his Swedish club. A similarly aged North American skater would have to play junior or NCAA instead.

Instead, Sandin played in the AHL and succeeded, getting up to 20 minutes per game by the end of the season.

This year, he will have a chance to make the Toronto Maple Leafs out of training camp, since they’ve only got Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin and Tyson Barrie locked into their starting lineup.”

The Sad History of Toronto Maple Leafs First Round Picks

Despite hitting on a number of picks in recent years, the Maple Leafs have an otherwise long and storied track record of completely botching the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. Don’t believe me? Well, there are facts to prove it.

Between the subtle failures like Frederik Gauthier and Luke Schenn (each of whom played NHL games and had brief flashes of decency while never earning their first-round pedigree) and monumental collapses like Tyler Biggs and Stuart Percy (who didn’t even become NHLers at all) the Maple Leafs’ rap sheet goes back a long time and encompasses varying degrees of ineptitude.

In his piece from this week, Mark takes us through the entire archive of Toronto first-round picks.

“Looking through the first round of Toronto Maple Leafs draft history was truly a roller coaster of emotions. Never did I think I would become so upset and anger is driven by simply scrolling through a team’s draft history.

Alas, seeing picks that ended being busts and seeing potential picks that could have been a Toronto Maple Leaf, only to become a superstar, was tough to see.

Furthermore, there were years when the draft was stacked full of high-end prospects, yet, Toronto was nowhere to be seen in the thick of things!”

Thanks for reading!