Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: NHL Entry Draft First-Round Options

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: General manager Kyle Dubas of the Toronto Maple Leafs looks on during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: General manager Kyle Dubas of the Toronto Maple Leafs looks on during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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Toronto Maple Leafs
DALLAS, TX – JUNE 23: (l-r) Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan of the Toronto Maple Leafs handle the draft table during the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 23, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a first-round draft pick for the upcoming 2020 NHL draft.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hold options in their hand with the acquisition of the Pittsburgh Penguins first-round pick in the upcoming 2020 NHL entry draft. With the first-round pick, acquired in the trade that saw Kasperi Kapanen being traded back to his draft team, the Toronto Maple Leafs are able to select 15th overall.

Do the Leafs Keep the pick? Trade it?  Trade up? Trade Down?

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be in a bit of a conundrum, a 15th overall draft pick generally doesn’t give you NHL ready players, let alone star players, though there are sometimes exceptions.

They could look to draft a player to deepen their prospect pool in the hopes that will pan out to be a roster player in the future to come. The other option at hand is to look and try to trade the pick, maybe as part of a package, to haul in a player that would be an immediate improvement for the roster of the upcoming season.

However, with the financial issues the global pandemic, the right trade partner(s) might not be that easy to find.

That’s why we asked our Editor In Leaf writing staff the following question for this weeks roundtable:

“Who do you want the Toronto Maple Leafs to draft with their newly acquired first-round pick?”

Let’s find out, folks!