James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs shouldn’t have any plans for their 15th overall pick.
With a mid round pick, you’ve got options, and that means you’ve got to be flexible and see what happens. If a player you like drops, maybe you want to trade up and make sure you get him. If you would be reaching at 15 for the player you want, then then trade down.
But ultimately, I think the best strategy is probably to trade the pick. The Leafs are in a win-now situation, and a draft pick, while nice, isn’t really going to help with that. Conversely, first-round picks tend to be overvalued and thus make excellent trade commodities.
If I had to make a prediction, I would say that the Leafs do no end up picking in the first round, and that they end up trading their pick. Obviously this ends up being a bit of a bummer during the actual draft, but if the Leafs can get themselves a roster upgrade, I think they have to do it.
You have to figure that at least one out of Hyman and Johnsson would be available for trade, along with Travis Dermott. Add in a 15th overall pick to that and you’ve got a package that should easily be able to bring you back the long sought after top pairing partner for Morgan Rielly.