Top 10 Toronto Maple Leafs Draft Misses: 1990s Edition
The Toronto Maple Leafs had an incredible run in the 1990s but narrowly missed out on a Stanley Cup Final twice.
Led by Doug Gilmour, the Toronto Maple Leafs were a powerhouse from 1992-to-1994 and if it wasn’t for a Wayne Gretzky high-stick, who knows what could have happened.
Those early 90s teams are as beloved as any Leafs team ice since winning a cup in 1967. One of the main reasons why those teams were so good was because they had drafted and developed a number of key players through their organization.
Starting goaltender Felix Potvin, forward Nikolai Borschevsky and the legend Wendel Clark were all drafted by the Leafs and eventually became key contributors on those 90s teams that made it to back-to-back Conference Finals.
Although these draft picks were critical to team success, there are always going to be selections you regret.
As we already outlined in the 1980s version of this column, the main criteria is:
- The player can only be a “miss” if another team selected that individual within five picks of the Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick.
Easy, enough?
Here are the top 10 draft misses by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1990s.
#10. Martin Havlat (1999 NHL Entry Draft, 1st Round, 26th Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 1st Round, 24th Overall (Luca Cereda)
Within this experiment it’s easier to justify missing on a pick late in the draft, but a first round miss is tough to see.
Looking back at the first round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, there were only three players that didn’t play a single NHL game and the Toronto Maple Leafs pick of Luca Cereda was one of them.
To make things worse, Havlat ended up playing 790 NHL games, while the Leafs got nothing in return from Cereda.
Toronto Maple Leafs fans probably most likely remember Havlat from his time with the Ottawa Senators where he had three consecutive 20-plus goal seasons early in his career.
Havlat was an offensive threat for the first decade of his NHL career averaging close to a point per game, but injuries halted the latter half. Despite health stopping his production, Havlat had a solid NHL career finishing with 594 points in 790 career games.
#9. Radim Vrbata (1999 NHL Entry Draft, 7th Round, 212nd Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 7th Round, 211th Overall (Vladimir Kulikov)
It’s unsure whether the Leafs would have picked Henrik Zetterberg if he fell one spot later to them, but it’s crazy to see that one of the best European players of our generation was drafted with the 210th overall pick in this draft.
The Leafs missed out on the opportunity to draft Zetterberg, then took Vladimir Kulikov, followed by Radim Vrbata going next. This was a huge miss for the Leafs, as not only did Detroit steal away a future Hall-of-Famer but Toronto skipped on Vrbata who would play over 1000 games in the NHL.
The NHL Entry Draft is a lot of guess work, but it’s always tough to see a huge miss like this.
Vrbata was the definition of a solid right-winger. He fit in perfectly as a top-six winger, and produced six seasons of 20-plus goals.
His best offensive season came late in his career in the 2014-15 season with the Vancouver Canucks when he scored 31 goals and had 63 points, while being selected to the NHL All-Star Team that year.
#8. Pavel Kubina (1996 NHL Entry Draft, 7th Round, 179th Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 7th Round, 178th Overall (Reggie Berg)
You’d think a 6-foot-4, 260 pound defenseman would get drafted much higher than the seventh round, but that can’t be said about Pavel Kubina.
As can be seen with a number of drafts in the 1980s and 90s, the International Scouting wasn’t like it is today because there are a number of different examples of European players drafted late that bloom into Hall-of-Famers.
Kubina isn’t going to make the Hall-of-Fame, but he was still a good defenseman.
Just shy of 1000 games, Kubina played 970 games while contributing 386 points. During the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup season in 2003-04, Kubina was a top-two defenseman alongside Dan Boyle and played an important role on the back-end helping his team to victory.
Kubina’s best offensive seasons actually came in Toronto when he scored back-to-back 40 point seasons.
Although the Leafs had a few good defenseman like Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe and Bryan Berard in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kubina would have been a great addition on the blue-line.
#7. Tomas Holmstrom (1994 NHL Entry Draft, 10th Round, 257th Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 10th Round, 256th Overall (Sergei Berezin)
For die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fans, the Berezin pick here could be one of their favorite players of the 90s.
I know it was for me. Berezin was an electric player who could deke past every defender, but losing the puck at the opponents blue-line was his specialty. If he could have controlled the puck more, he could have had a 50 goal season one year.
Instead, 20 goals was a given for him, while his best season came in 1998-99 when he potted 37.
Enough about Berezin though.
Despite the fun that he gave fans, the team missed out on Holmstrom, who would torment goaltenders in-front of the net and be a key piece to the Detroit Red Wings’ success.
There was no better player in the NHL at screening goaltenders and his ability to do this was so valuable. Holmstrom was also so consistent with his play and was guaranteed to get anywhere between 15-to-25 goals each season.
Not only could he produce offensively, but he finished his career with over 1000 NHL games played and four Stanley Cup championships
#6. Peter Sykora (1995 NHL Entry Draft, 1st Round, 18th Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 1st Round, 15th Overall (Jeff Ware)
Fun fact: Did you know that there was another Peter Sykora from Czech Republic who was drafted in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft?
That’s not important, but I found it interesting.
Anyway, the Leafs missed out big with this pick. They drafted Jeff Ware who played 21 NHL games, when they could have got Sykora who played over 1000 NHL games.
It took Sykora a few years to get settled into North American professional hockey, but when he found his groove, he was outstanding. From 1998-to-2004, Sykora had six straight seasons of 20-plus goals, including a 35-goal season in 2000-01.
It felt as if wherever Sykora went, the team found success. Within his career, he made it to six Stanley Cup Finals and was victorious twice. Once with the New Jersey Devils in the 1999-00 season and a second time with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-09.
Sykora would have been a very nice addition to the Leafs line-up in the late 90s and early 2000s, but instead the team got nothing in return from picking Ware.
#5. Alex Tanguay (1998 NHL Entry Draft, 1st Round, 12th Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 1st Round, 10th Overall (Nikolai Antropov)
The Leafs didn’t completely mess up their pick by drafting Antropov 10th overall, but they could have been better off with Tanguay.
Tanguay was a great player and found himself situated in an even greater spot by getting drafted to Colorado. Tanguay joined a team that was already stacked with talent, but was able to play a key piece in the team’s Stanley Cup victory.
During their Stanley Cup win in the 2000-01 season, Tanguay had 21 points in 23 games and scored the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the Finals. In only his second season in the NHL, Tanguay was already beloved by Avalanche fans and making a name of himself.
Although Tanguay would eventually play with five NHL teams in his career, the majority of his time came in Colorado.
His offensive numbers would dip as his career went on, but in 1088 NHL games, he still managed to score 863 points.
Tanguay’s speed was always a threat and although Antropov ended up being a good Leaf, Tanguay’s presence would have been more beneficial for a Toronto Maple Leafs team that was so close to a Stanley Cup Final in the early 2000s.
#4. Saku Koviu (1993 NHL Entry Draft, 1st Round, 21st Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 1st Round, 19th Overall (Landon Wilson)
Although Leafs’ fans are engineered to hate Montreal Canadiens, it’s easy to make an exception for Saku Koviu.
Koviu was the ultimate leader in Montreal serving as team captain for 10 seasons. His leadership was fully displayed during the 2001-02 season when he missed almost the entire season due to Burkitt’s Lymphoma, but returned with three games left to help his team in their playoff quest.
Koviu had 10 points in 12 playoff games and was a big reason for the Canadiens ability to defeat their rival Boston Bruins in the first round. Koviu’s courage was recognized by the NHL, as he was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy following the season.
Although Koviu was never going to lead the league in scoring, he was a consistent captain that you could relay on every night. His best offensive season came in the 2002-03 season when he scored 72 points, but every year you could count on him to score anywhere between 15-to-20 goals.
In 18 NHL seasons, Koviu finished with 832 points and 1124 career games. It’s crazy to picture Koviu without a Montreal Canadiens jersey on, but if things could be changed, I’m sure fans would have been very happy to see him in a Leafs sweater.
#3. Todd Bertuzzi (1993 NHL Entry Draft, 1st Round, 23rd Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 1st Round, 19th Overall (Landon Wilson)
In the same NHL Entry Draft that the Leafs could have selected Koviu, they also could have drafted Todd Bertuzzi.
At 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, Bertuzzi displayed a physical presence about him and was an exceptional junior hockey player before joining the NHL. With 54 goals in his final year of junior, Bertuzzi felt ready for the next step in his career.
However, similar to Peter Sykora who we talked about earlier, it took a few years for Bertuzzi to find his game at the NHL-level. It wasn’t until he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks that Bertuzzi would become one of the best power-forwards in the NHL.
During a stretch from 1999-to-2006, Bertuzzi was one of the most dominating players in the NHL. Paired up with Markus Naslund, the two were a huge threat in the Western Conference.
Bertuzzi’s best season came in 2002-03, when he scored 46 goals, 97 points while racking up 144 penalty minutes. His season was so great that he was recognized by the NHL and named as an NHL First-Team All-Star.
Although the Steve Moore incident derailed his career, Bertuzzi at his peak was one of the best players in the NHL and the Leafs missed the boat on not picking him in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft.
#2. Doug Weight (1990 NHL Entry Draft, 2nd Round, 34th Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 2nd Round, 31st Overall (Felix Potvin)
Doug Weight was a big miss but the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t exactly mess up their pick with the 31st overall selection.
Felix “The Cat” played eight seasons in Toronto and is one of the most beloved goaltenders in team history. He was a huge part of the organization success in the early 90s and without his skill, it’s possible that the Leafs never make it to back-to-back Conference Finals.
Despite Potvin’s success, the Leafs missed out a future four-time NHL All-Star.
Weight had an illustrious 19-year career that included one Stanley Cup and 1238 games played. Better known as an assist-man, Weight didn’t lack in the goal-scoring category either, as he finished his career with six 20-plus goal seasons.
Although Potvin was a great draft pick for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a decade of Weight could have been even more important to the Leafs success.
#1. Patrick Elias (1994 NHL Entry Draft, 2nd Round, 51st Overall)
Toronto’s Actual Pick: 2nd Round, 48th Overall (Sean Haggerty)
Arguably the most underrated player of the 1990s NHL Draft classes is Patrick Elias.
In conversations about great New Jersey Devils teams it feels that people only talk about Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer or Martin Brodeur. Sure, defense was a big contributor to the team’s ultimate success, but Elias was a key part to the team offensively.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion was extremely talented and had 10 seasons of 20-plus goals in his career. Not only that, but his 2000-01 season of 40 goals and 96 points was good enough to select him to the NHL’s First All-Star team.
In terms of Czech Republic-born NHL players, only Jaromir Jagr is ahead of him in career points. In 1240 NHL games, Elias finished with 1025 points, joining only 90 other players in history with 1000 or more points.
Next. Toronto Maple Leafs Draft Misses: 80s Edition. dark
If Elias played in Toronto, he would have been recognized as one of the best Leafs of all-time, but by playing in New Jersey for his entire career, he’s not as respected as he should be.
It’s only a matter of time before Elias gets inducted into the Hockey Hall-of-Fame.