Toronto Maple Leafs 2015 NHL Draft: Where Are They Now?
Following a catastrophic season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were preparing to accelerate their rebuild, which started with selecting top notch prospects at the 2015 Draft.
The Toronto Maple Leafs sat with two first round selections on draft day 2015, and but traded down twice and selected just one player in the opening round.
The pair of co-GMs Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter worked together to trade down and select organizational favorites, shipping out the Predators’ 24th overall pick (originally acquired in the Cody Franson trade) to the Flyers in exchange for Tampa’s 29th overall pick (acquired in the Braydon Coburn trade), and the 61st overall pick. The Leafs then flipped the 29th overall pick to the Blue Jackets for the 34th and 68th overall selections.
Following these trades, the Leafs were set to make nine selections over two days. After a positive 2014 draft, the Leafs were poised to please in 2015, and so we return four years later to find out: did they?
This is my sixth installment of the “Where Are They Now?” draft series, so I’d encourage you to check out my previous five posts if you have missed any!
Round 1 Pick 4 – Mitchell Marner
With the fourth overall selection in the 2015 NHL entry draft, the Leafs picked offensive dynamo Mitch Marner from the London Knights of the OHL.
Marner posted an absurd 126 points in 63 games his draft year, which can mostly be credited to his immense skill and knowledge of the game, as described by Elite Prospects’ Curtis Joe in 2014,
“A dynamic offensive forward that backchecks hard and establishes his presence through [smart plays and puck possession]. A very quick skater gifted with great hands and hockey sense…an unselfish player…embodies the definition of a dynamic number-generating machine who makes players around him better.”
Marner returned to London for the 2015-16 season, where he would dominate once again, scoring 116 points in 57 games and winning the Memorial Cup Championship & MVP.
Marner would make the Leafs out of camp the next fall, scoring 19 goals and 61 points in 77 games in the 2016-17 season.
Over the next two seasons, Marner would score 48 goals and 163 points in 162 games with the Leafs.
This impressive production carried Marner through his entry level contract and into negotiations for his second contract, which I covered in my debut article this summer.
After a grueling, and very public summer negotiation period, Marner returned to Toronto on a six-year contract worth an Annual Average Value of $10.893 million.
Round 2 Pick 34 – Travis Dermott
With the 34th overall pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs selected high-flying defender Travis Dermott from the Erie Otters of the OHL.
Dermott, an energetic and mobile defender, earned a stellar two-way reputation while controlling play on the Otters’ backend, feeding passes to the likes of Connor McDavid, Dylan Strome, and Connor Brown.
After finishing his junior career in 2016 with 116 points in 179 games played, Dermott would join the Marlies, where he would spend the next year and a half.
Halfway though the 2017-18 season, Dermott would be recalled after posting 18 points in 28 games, and would add 13 points in 37 NHL games for the Leafs.
This past season, Dermott would appear in 64 games, scoring four goals and 17 points while battling injury.
Dermott has missed the 2019 training camp with an injury and will likely miss the first month of the regular season as well.
Round 2 Pick 61 – Jeremy Bracco
With their third pick in 2015 NHL draft, the Maple Leafs took playmaking forward Jeremy Bracco of the USHL.
Bracco would spend the two seasons following his selection bouncing around the NCAA and OHL.
The New York native would tally three assists in just five games with Boston College in 2015-16 before leaving for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, whom he would score 64 points in 49 games for that season. Bracco would start the 2016-17 season with the Rangers, scoring 51 points in 27 games, before being moved to the desperate Windsor Spitfires. He would finish that season with 83 points in 57 games.
Bracco would then join the AHL’s Toronto Marlies in 2017-18, scoring 32 points in 50 games.
This past season, Bracco would take sole possession of the Leafs’ top forward prospect spot with a spectacular 79 points in 75 games with the Marlies.
Bracco, although an excellent prospect, is unlikely to make the Leafs and may even get traded, seeing as he is currently at his highest value.
TORONTO , ON- APRIL 15 – Marlies April 15 Toronto Marlies Andrew Nielsen levels Belleville Senators forward Eric Selleck as Scott Pooley ( l) tries to get out of the way of the big hit at the Ricoh Centre on Sunday. April 15, 2018. (Rene Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Round 3 Pick 65 – Andrew Nielsen
With their first pick of the third round, the Leafs picked up physical defender Andrew Nielsen from the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL.
Nilesen looked like a great pick shortly after his selection in 2015, as he scored 70 points in 71 games with Lethbridge in 2015-16, and impressed in his first season with the Marlies, totaling 39 points in 74 AHL games in 2016-17.
The 2017-18 season saw the Red Deer native take a step back, scoring 25 points in 65 games.
Nielsen followed that down-season with a horrendous start to the 2018-19 season, being noticeably poor in the preseason, and struggling to score early on, adding three assists in eight AHL games before being moved to the Calgary Flames for fellow underwhelming prospect Morgan Klimchuk.
Nielsen would end this season with just seven assists in 37 games.
The Albertan defender is set to play out the 2019-20 season with the Flames’ AHL affiliate Stockton Heat.
Round 3 Pick 68 – Martins Dzierkals
With their second selection of the third round, the Leafs took Latvian forward Martins Dzierkals.
Dzierkals was a star young forward in the Russian MHL, scoring 28 points in 32 games with HK Riga his draft year.
Dzierkals would spend the next two seasons with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL, scoring 116 points in 106 total games.
From there, Dzierkals would bounce around the AHL, ECHL, and KHL, as I elaborated on in a previous post I wrote in July.
Since then, Dzierkals has joined Jukurit of Liiga, who he is set to play for this season.
Round 4 Pick 99 – Jesper Lindgren
With the 99th overall pick in the 2015 entry draft, the Leafs selected Swedish two-way defender Jesper Lindgren.
Lindgren, a solid player on both sides of play, excelled with MODO Hockey’s under-20 program his draft year. The right-handed defender scored 33 points in 39 games.
Over the next three seasons, Lindgren would bounce between several Swedish and Finnish leagues, with mixed results.
Lindgren would join the Marlies at the end of the 2017-18 season, tallying one assist in four games, before returning to Finland for the 2018-19 season. He would score 19 points in 45 games for HPK of Liiga before committing to the Marlies for the 2019-20 season.
Round 5 Pick 125 – Dmytro Timashov
With their only selection in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL entry draft, the Leafs took Swedish winger Dmytro Timashov of the Quebec Remparts.
Timashov, a native of Ukraine, joined Quebec for his draft year, scoring an excellent 90 points in 66 games. The playmaking winger would follow that great performance up with 85 points in 57 games split between Quebec and Shawinigan.
Timashov would join the Marlies in 2016-17, appearing in 63 games and scoring 24 points. The next season, Tiamshov would add 10 more points in four more games, and would score 49 points in 72 games this past season.
Timashov, much like Bracco, is a great prospect, but may be moved out of necessity amidst a brutal roster crunch.
Round 6 Pick 155 – Stephen Desrocher
With their sixth round selection, the Leafs took two-way defender Stephen Desrocher from the Oshawa Generals.
Desrocher finished a solid OHL career in 2017, after scoring 128 points in 243 appearences, and leaving the league as the captain of the Kinston Frontenacs.
Desrocher joined the University of Western Ontario for the 2017-18 season, scoring two goals in four games. This past season, Desrocher would score six points in 27 games.
The Toronto native is not currently playing anywhere and may not play in the 2019-20 season.
Round 7 pick 185 – Nikita Korostelev
With their final pick in the 2015 NHL draft, the Leafs selected Russian forward Nikita Korostelev from the Sarnia Sting of the OHL.
A well-balanced scorer, Korostelev would post an impressive 272 points in 287 OHL games over his five year junior career.
Following the conclusion of his final junior season, Korostelev would join the Laval Rocket of the AHL after going unsigned by the Leafs. The Russian winger would score just two points in 10 games to end the 2017-18 season.
Next. Did the Leafs Overpay Marner?. dark
Korostelev would then join the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL for the 2018-19 season, scoring 13 points in 31 games before being assigned to the ECHL’s Jacksonville IceMen, scoring 7 points in 16 games.
Korostelev is set to start this season with the Cleveland Monsters once again.