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Top 10 Toronto Maple Leafs Misses: 2010s Edition

By Stephen Nixon

BUFFALO, NY - JUNE 24: Winnepegs Jets second overall pick Patrik Laine, Toronto Maple Leafs first overall pick Auston Matthews and Columbus Blue Jackets third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois celebrate during round one of the 2016 NHL Draft on June 24, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NY - JUNE 24: Winnepegs Jets second overall pick Patrik Laine, Toronto Maple Leafs first overall pick Auston Matthews and Columbus Blue Jackets third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois celebrate during round one of the 2016 NHL Draft on June 24, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 7: William Nylander #88 of the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 7: William Nylander #88 of the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

#6. Jordan Binnington (2011 NHL Entry Draft, 3rd Round, 88th Overall)

Toronto’s Actual Pick: 3rd Round, 86th Overall (Josh Leivo)

There’s something not-so-fun about this experiment that has shown just how bad the Maple Leafs have been with goaltending.

Besides drafting Felix Potvin in 1990, there hasn’t been a good goaltender the team has developed since. Sure, James Reimer and Garret Sparks played NHL games, but those two aren’t true NHL starting goaltenders.

Josh Leivo was never treated as an everyday player in Toronto, so in a different setting, Leivo’s career could have been different. It’s nice to see that he’s fitting in well in Vancouver and is becoming a steady NHL player for them.

While the Leafs selected Leivo and did a terrible job advancing his career, Jordan Binnington was there for the taking. Although it took until he was 25-years-old to make a splash in the NHL, that’s not too old for goaltender

Since 2011, the St. Louis Blues have been developing Binnington at a slow pace so that when it was his time to shine, he was ready for it. And that’s exactly what happened during the 2018-19 season.

Binnington was called up from the AHL, and went on a hot-streak. He finished the season with a 24-5-1 record and carried that momentum into the playoffs, where he helped guide the Blues to a Stanley Cup championship.

Who knows if Binnington would have been able to become a starting number-one goaltender in Toronto’s system, but based on how well the Marlies have been developing over the past few years, I’m sure we would have been talking about him as the next great goalie if the Leafs ended up drafting him.

#5. Brendan Gallagher (2010 NHL Entry Draft, 5th Round, 147th Overall)

Toronto’s Actual Pick: 5th Round, 146th Overall (Daniel Brodin)

It always seems to sting more when the player is selected one pick after a bust.

And it even starts to sting more when that player turns into Brendan Gallagher and was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens.

Listed at 5-foot-9, 184 pounds, it makes sense that teams were hesitant to draft him. Even as short as 10 years ago, NHL teams were unsure if small skilled players would transition well into the NHL game.

Now it seems that every draft pick Kyle Dubas makes is a player six-foot or under so the game has definitely evolved.

Despite his height, Gallagher was a three-time 40-goal scorer in the Western Hockey League. After leading his team in goal scoring for three straight seasons, he was ready to prove his worth in the NHL.

For the last eight seasons, Gallagher has been a huge piece to the Canadiens’ offense. In an 82-game season, Gallagher was on-pace for another 30-goal season, which would have been his third consecutive.

Although he’s a player everyone hates to play against, he’s a fan-favourite in Montreal and the Toronto Maple Leafs missed out huge by not selecting him in 2010.

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