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Top 5 What-Ifs in Toronto Maple Leafs Team History

By Stephen Nixon

TORONTO, ON - MAY 17: Wayne Gretzky #99 of the Los Angeles Kings skates by Doug Gilmour #93 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during NHL semi final series playoff game action on May 17, 1993 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MAY 17: Wayne Gretzky #99 of the Los Angeles Kings skates by Doug Gilmour #93 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during NHL semi final series playoff game action on May 17, 1993 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 27: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers  . (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

#3. What if the Leafs Won the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery?

With a 9.5% chance at winning the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery, the Toronto Maple Leafs had the fourth best odds at winning.

Unfortunately for Leafs fans, the Edmonton Oilers were victorious in this lottery and had the opportunity to draft Connor McDavid.

Instead of McDavid, the Leafs drafted Mitch Marner with the fourth overall pick that year. Don’t get me wrong, Marner is a generational talent but he’s no McDavid.

McDavid is the best player in the NHL and will be for the next decade. So what would have happened if the Leafs won the lottery?

With McDavid on the Leafs, the 2015-16 rebuild actually may still have happened. When McDavid joined Edmonton, they were still the second worst team in the NHL a year later. The Leafs roster in 2015-16 with McDavid was still so terrible, that there’s a real chance the team would have had a top-five pick again.

Instead of having Nylander, Matthews and Marner, the Leafs core would probably have looked something like this: Nylander, McDavid and Matthew Tkachuk or Patrick Laine.

Although the Leafs current core is great, that core is better. Matthews is arguably the greatest goal-scorer to ever play for the Leafs, but McDavid has potential of being one of the best 10 player to ever play in the NHL, so winning the lottery would have given the Leafs a better chance at winning a Stanley Cup.

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