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Top 5 Toronto Maple Leafs Draft Picks of All-Time

By Matthew Rodrigopulle

SUNRISE, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes a shot on goal against the Florida Panthers during the third period at BB&T Center on February 27, 2020 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
SUNRISE, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes a shot on goal against the Florida Panthers during the third period at BB&T Center on February 27, 2020 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 20: Lanny McDonald #9 of the Calgary Flames skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during NHL game action on January 20, 1982 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 20: Lanny McDonald #9 of the Calgary Flames skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during NHL game action on January 20, 1982 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images) /

4) Lanny McDonald

Drafted 4th overall in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft

Lanny McDonald is one of the greatest players to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs and that’s rightfully so.

After being drafted fourth overall in the 1973 draft, McDonald had a slow start in the league, only scoring a total of 31 goals over his first two seasons.

But in his third season, McDonald broke out and scored 37 goals and 56 assists for 93 points. After that, he became a bonafide star in the league, including three straight 40+ goal seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Unfortunately, McDonald’s stint with the Leafs was cut short, after Punch Imlach notoriously traded away McDonald, a good friend of Leafs-then captain Darryl Sittler, to the Colorado Rockies, after failing to initially trade away Sittler.

McDonald would continue to thrive in Colorado and would eventually go on to win a Stanley Cup with the Calgary Falmes in 1989.

Despite his shortened stint with Toronto, McDonald is still one of the greatest goal scorers in Leafs history, racking up a total of 219 goals and 240 assists for 459 points in 477 games with Toronto. Ultimately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992, he definitely is one of the franchise’s best choices in a draft ever.

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