Could’ve Had ‘Em: Toronto Maple Leafs Recent Draft Mistakes

In hindsight, Mark Hunter was horrible at drafting for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Mark Hunter was hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 21st, 2014. At the time, his title was director of player personnel. Part of his duties was to head the scouting department, and later that role was expanded to him running the drafts from 2015 through 2017 as he was transitioned to an assistant general manager position.

Hunter is regarded by many as a ‘drafting wizard’: a guru of knowledge on up-and-coming players and a great evaluator of talent. But if that were true, why have the Leafs had next-to-no drafted players outside of their first-round picks join the roster?

Perhaps Hunter, for as much as certain sections of Leaf fans still beat the drum and definitively declare he should have been selected to run the team over Kyle Dubas, isn’t as good at his job as his reputation would lead you to believe.

The following is a recap of the players the Leafs drafted during Mark Hunter’s time as the head of scouting, a rundown of the selected player’s expected talent and potential, and in some cases, where they are now. I’ll also be going over players who were on the board and NOT chosen by Hunter for one reason or another.

The intent is not to put a total hatchet job on the former head scout, because drafting is guesswork 90% of the time, but hopefully to illuminate you all that the Toronto Maple Leafs are in good hands. Kyle Dubas’ draft selections in these past 2 years are already showing much higher promise than most selected by Hunter.