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

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!

Philip van Riesen

After acquiring the 15th overall pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Toronto Maple Leafs management give themselves many different opportunities to improve the team.

With the current state the Leafs find themselves in as a team, it would make sense to be open to trading the pick for an active player. At the same time it has to be the right trade, in no way do you want to be trading the pick for a player who isn’t impactful enough to justify it, because drafting a player who could be impactful on an ELC in a few years is extremely valuable in a cap world.

If the Leafs are looking at a deal that has Aaron Ekblad or Colton Parayko coming back, then it is obviously worth it to move the pick but the likelihood of anything as big as that is slim. The most plausible option is the Leafs keep the pick and draft at 15, but to maximize the potential future value it might make sense for the Leafs to move down a couple of spots in the draft and garner another asset.

Generally, moving down a few spots in the draft means that you get a 3rd round pick or something of similar value on top of moving only a few spots down. Based on expected value, picking at a player at 15 is extremely similar to picking a player at 20th overall, the difference in general is easily worth adding an additional 3rd round pick.

The Leafs might be able to pull off picking an excellent player such as Jan Mysak around 20th overall and getting another draft asset with that. Mysak is a high-level offensive player who was able to play against men in the Czech pro league, and he led the league in U-18 points. His hockey IQ, shot, and passing ability is that of a bonified top-15 pick and many expect him to go later in the first round.

So if Dubas is able to move down and select a player as good as Mysak in the later first round and get another pick on-top of that, it would be game-changing.

Dylan Murphy

With the 15th overall pick, the Toronto Maple Leafs should undoubtedly select Yaroslav Askarov, if he’s available.

There are no two-ways about it, Askarov is projected to be the best goaltender to enter the draft since Andrei Vasilevskiy. If he’s still available at 15th overall, he must be selected. He won’t have an immediate impact on the Leafs day-to-day roster, but after the appropriate development time, he could become a cost-controlled stabilizing force in between the pipes.

A true number-one netminding prospect that, frankly, the Leafs have never had… what? Tuukka Rask? Never heard of him. Barring Askarov, the only player I know who would probably be available in that range is Dawson Mercer, and full-disclosure, I only know his name because he’s a fellow Newfoundlander, and that’s literally the only reason I have for why I wouldn’t mind the Leafs selecting him.

Nevertheless, should the chance come along, Kyle Dubas should not hesitate and use their first-round draft pick to select the goaltender that could be the number one netminder for many years to come.

Jordan Maresky

With the Leafs 15th overall pick, Kyle Dubas should select none other than goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, granted he is still available.

Being labeled the best goalie prospect since Carey Price by Bob Mackenzie and with Craig Button saying he has the potential to be one of the most dominant goaltenders in the league due to his athletic ability, a la Andrei Vasilevskiy, it is hard to not fantasize about Askarov in the Blue and White.

The 6”3 Russian netminders dominated the VHL, Russia’s second-highest league, going 12-3-3, posting a .920 save percentage. The VHL has never had a goaltender at 17 years-old absolutely command the crease the way Askarov did. Plus, various scouts have suggested Askarov will not need as much time in the minors as other goalie prospects have previously needed, and can be NHL ready in as soon as two years.

“The best goaltending prospect we’ve seen in a very long time. Hits all the markers – size, composure, puck-tracking, elasticity, and competitive fire. His body of work thus far deserves a top-10 slot. Currently tearing up the VHL this year which is literally unheard of for a U18.” – Cam Robinson, DobberProspects.

For such a long time Toronto has had great forward prospects (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Nick Robertson), great defense prospects (Morgan Rielly, Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren), but has never had an elite goalie prospect.

So much of this offseason recently is about how the Leafs are going to replace Frederik Andersen in the crease, however, if Kyle Dubas nabs Askarov at 15, the problem solves itself. Askarov is the future of Toronto’s crease.

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.