Toronto Maple Leafs: Re-Drafting the 2015 NHL Entry Draft

The 2014-15 season is a year most Toronto Maple Leafs fans would love to forget.

With a  21-16-3 record, the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to fire Randy Carlyle after a roller coaster start to their season.

When the Leafs fired Carlyle on January 6, 2015 the team actually sat in a playoff position, and the move was meant to shake-up the team and propel them towards the post-season.

Unfortunately for Toronto Maple Leafs fans, the team went through one of it’s worst stretches of hockey when they hired Peter Horachek as interim head coach. Horachek went a dismal 9-28-0-5 behind the bench, and was ultimately fired after the season.

Although Horachek may go down as the worst coach in Toronto Maple Leafs history, he didn’t have a ton of talent to work with. There wasn’t a player on the team that hit 30 goals that season, and Phil Kessel led the Leafs with 61 points.

Besides Morgan Rielly, the team also didn’t have any up-and-coming stars they could feel good about for years to come. As a result, although this season was depressing, it may have been the best thing that’s happened to the Leafs franchise.

Following this horrific season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were rewarded with the fourth overall draft pick and selected Mitch Marner, who is a generational player and adored by fans.

Speaking of that draft, let’s take a look at it in much more detail:

2015 NHL Draft Re-Draft

#3 Arizona Coyotes

Actual: Dylan Strome

Re-Draft: Mitch Marner

The Arizona Coyotes are definitely regretting this draft pick.

Dylan Strome showed much promise in the OHL with the Erie Otters, scoring 129 points in his draft year. However, as a professional he hasn’t been able to dominate the game like he did as a junior.

To make things worse, Strome only played 41 career games with Arizona before trading him to Chicago. Although his career has been better with the Blackhawks, Marner has shown to be one of the most gifted play-makers in the NHL, garnering 94 points in the 18-19 season.

#4  Toronto Maple Leafs

Actual: Mitch Marner

Re-Draft: Mikko Rantanen

In the original draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs were given the luxury of drafting Mitch Marner based off Arizona’s mishap.

If the draft went the way it should have, the Leafs would still have received an incredible talent in Mikko Rantanen, despite missing out on Marner.

Rantanen has eclipsed the point-per-game mark in his last two seasons and is on pace for that total again this year. \

Although the line-combination of Auston Matthews and Marner has been one of the best in the NHL, Rantanen and Matthews would probably have been just as lethal if this scenario happened.

2012 NHL Draft Re-Draft

#5 Carolina Hurricanes

Actual Pick: Noah Hanifin

Re-Draft: Thomas Chabot

The Hurricanes were on the right path by drafting a defenseman here, but unfortunately they picked the wrong one.

Chabot eats up minutes, and is proving to be one of the best defenseman in the NHL. For an Ottawa Senators team that has been trading talent away left, right and center, they’ve decided to build the team around Chabot, after recently signing him to an 8-year, $64 million extension.

Hanifin has already been traded from Carolina, so the Hurricanes definitely wish they had this pick back.

#6 New Jersey Devils

Actual Pick: Pavel Zacha

Re-Draft: Ilya Samsonov

Since this draft, and potentially since Martin Brodeur left, the New Jersey Devils have had goaltender issues.

Although Samsonov just made his NHL debut this season, he could have been a huge help to a team that looked destined for a playoff spot. Samsonov holds a 16-6-2 record with the Washington Capitals this year and looks prime to be the starting goaltender over vetran Braden Holtby for years to come.

Pavel Zacha on the other hand has been a decent NHL player, but he was drafted way too high in this draft class. As a 6’3 center from Czech Republic, the Devils unfortunately fell into the trap of drafting based off size and position, which happens to many teams every year.

#7 Philadelphia Flyers

Actual Pick: Ivan Provorov

Re-Draft Pick: Ivan Provorov

The Philadelphia Flyers wanted to pick a defenseman in this spot, and although in the real draft they should have drafted Thomas Chabot, they picked up a great player in Ivan Provorov.

It always seems harder for teams to find a world-class defenseman than offensive talent, so the Flyers were fortunate to grab Provorov with this pick.

2012 NHL Draft Re-Draft

#8 Columbus Blue Jackets

Actual Pick: Zach Werenski

Re-Draft Pick: Sebastian Aho

Having originally been drafted with the 35th overall pick, Sebastian Aho may have ended up being the steal of the draft for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Although Zach Werenski has been an awesome defenseman for the Colubmus Blue Jackets, it’s so hard to get a player who can score 30 goals per season.

In his four current seasons in the NHL, Aho has scored the following goals each year: 24, 29, 30 and 34. Also, that 34 goal year is the current postponed season, so if he were to play a full 82 games, he’d be on pace for 46 goals.

#9 San Jose Sharks

Actual Pick: Timo Meier

Re-Draft Pick: Zach Werenski

Zach Werenski is too good of a defenseman to fall any further in this draft.

Although there are still some very highly talented offensive players yet to be drafted in this re-draft, Werenski is one of the better young defenseman in the NHL.

Werenski is also having a break-out season with 20 goals in 63 games. Imagine the Sharks picked him up, in addition to having Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson on the back-end? No disrespect to Timo Meier, as he’s a very solid player but that defensive core would be the best in the league with the addition of Werenski.

#10  Colorado Avalanche

Actual Pick: Mikko Rantanen

Re-Draft Pick: Brock Boesser

With their original steal in Mikko Rantanen off the board, the Colorado Avalanche unfortunately would be getting a lesser player in Brock Boesser, although he’s immensely talented.

Boesser could fit in as a top-six player on any team in the NHL, so maybe if Boesser had the opportunity to play with Nathan MacKinnon every night, he would end up with similar stats as Rantanen.

2012 Re-Draft

11. Florida Panthers

Actual: Lawson Crouse

Re-Draft: Kyle Connor

12. Dallas Stars

Actual: Denis Gurianov

Re-Draft: Timo Meier

13. Boston Bruins

Actual: Jakub Zboril

Re-Draft: Matthew Barzal

14. Boston Bruins

Actual: Jake DeBrusk

Re-Draft: Travis Konecny

15. Boston Bruins

Actual: Zachary Senyshyn

Re-Draft: Anthony Cirelli

16. New York Islanders

Actual: Matthew Barzal

Re-Draft: Jake DeBrusk

17. Winnipeg Jets

Actual: Kyle Connor

Re-Draft: Noah Hanifin

18. Ottawa Senators

Actual: Thomas Chabot

Re-Draft: Brandon Carlo

19. Detroit Red Wings

Actual: Evgeny Svechnikov

Re-Draft: Anthony Beauvillier

20. Minnesota Wild

Actual: Joel Eriksson Ek

Re-Draft: Dylan Strome

21. Ottawa Senators

Actual:  Colin White

Re-Draft: Markus Nutivaara

22. Washington Capitals

Actual: Ilya Samsonov

Re-Draft: Travis Dermott

23. Vancouver Canucks

Actual: Brock Boeser

Re-Draft: Pavel Zacha

24. Philadelphia Flyers

Actual: Travis Konecny

Re-Draft: Colin White

25. Winnipeg Jets

Actual: Jack Roslovic

Re-Draft: Jack Roslovic

26. Montreal Canadiens

Actual: Noah Juulsen

Re-Draft: Lawson Crouse

27. Anaheim Ducks

Actual: Jacob Larsson

Re-Draft: Vince Dunn

28. New York Islanders

Actual: Anthony Beauvillier

Re-Draft: Christian Fischer

29. Columbus Blue Jackets

Actual: Gabriel Carlsson

Re-Draft: Joel Eriksson Ek

30. Arizona Coyotes

Actual: Nick Merkley

Re-Draft: Jordan Greenway

After taking a closer look at a re-draft, the original selections by GM’s were pretty good.

In this re-draft, the NHL wouldn’t be that much different. Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Ivan Provorov would still be on the same team, whereas Mikko Rantanen would have replaced Mitch Marner as Auston Matthews’ favourite winger.

The biggest change would have came from the Boston Bruins. Imagine how much better the Bruins could have been if they were able to re-draft their three consecutive first round picks. They could have taken Matthew Barzal, Travis Konecny and Anthony Cirelli instead of: Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zachary Senyshyn.

Thank goodness that never happened.

Overall, it’s always fun to look back at old drafts, and the biggest thing we can say about the 2015 NHL Entry Draft is that it was stacked with talent.