Round 3 Pick 68 – Rinat Valiev
In a crucial draft that would hopefully be really important to an intimate rebuild, Leafs management decided to take a big-bodied defender with underwhelming stats. Players such as Brayden Point (NHL star), Ilya Sorokin (top goaltending prospect), Elvis Merzlikens (top goaltending prospect), and Lucas Wallmark (full time NHL player) were are available at this point.
Ignoring the other options, Valiev still isn’t exactly a player you target, especially at this point in the draft. The Russian defender was an overager who went undrafted in 2013, and standing at a large 6’2″ and 216 lbs was not exactly a very mobile player. Valiev was known more for his shutdown ability (another red flag-do not base a draft pick, especially an overager, on shutdown ability, the player should have a variety of good skills-shutdown is a buzz word for “big and can hit”).
Valiev would join the Marlies in 2015 after two decent seasons in the WHL (74 points in 107 games), posting a solid 23 points in 60 games, and even played a 10 game stint with the Leafs, where he would score no points.
Valiev would spend the next year and a half with the Marlies, scoring 28 points in 87 games.
The Russian defender would be traded at the 2018 trade deadline, along with Kerby Rychel and a second round pick (Jacob Olofsson), to the Montreal Canadiens for longtime Habs centreman Tomas Plekanec.
Valiev would go scoreless in two games with Montreal that season. Since then, he would play in 62 AHL games, scoring 24 points. Valiev was traded again in 2018, this time to the Calgary, where he is set to start the 2019-20 season.