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.
NHL Entry Draft
In 2015, the Leafs drafted Mitch Marner (4th overall), Travis Dermott (34th), Jeremy Bracco (61st), Andrew Nielsen (65th), Martins Dzierkals (68th), Jesper Lindgren (95th), Dmytro Timashov (125th), Stephen Desrocher (155th), and Nikita Korostelev (185th)
In 2016, draft selections were Auston Matthews (1st overall), Yegor Korshkov (31st), Carl Grundstrom (58th), Joseph Woll (62nd), J.D. Greenway (72nd), Adam Brooks (92nd), Keaton Middleton (101st), Vladimir Bobylev (122nd), Jack Walker (152nd), Nicolas Mattinen (179th), and Nikolai Chebykin (182nd)
In 2017, the Leafs drafted Timothy Liljegren (17th), Eemeli Rasanen (59th), Ian Scott (110th), Vladislav Kara (124th), Fedor Gordeev (141st), Ryan McGregor (172nd), and Ryan O’Connell (203rd)
Matthews and Marner were can’t miss selections, and Liljegren, despite falling in most scouts eyes, still has top-4, if not top-pairing potential as the right-handed defenseman people clamor for. Also remember that Liljegren was projected to be a top-10 pick throughout his draft year, but fell because of a bout of mono that significantly impacted his performance.
Outside of those first-round choices, the total numbers of NHL games played by Leafs draft picks… it’s not pretty. Of all the players chosen, five have played in the NHL: Dermott (157 Games Played), Timashov (39 GP for Toronto), Korshkov (1 GP), Grundstrom (0 GP for Toronto) and Brooks (7 GP).
Timashov and Grundstrom have obviously been traded to Detroit and L.A, respectively. So that leaves us with three drafted players who have played, and of those guys, only one is an everyday roster player. While Brooks and Korshkov could both play in the NHL next season, I find it somewhat unlikely. Those kinds of results are simply not good enough, especially considering Mark Hunter’s ill-gotten reputation as a great drafting guy
Of all the players drafted during Hunter’s term, only Jeremy Bracco, the goalies Ian Scott and Joseph Woll and defenseman Jesper Lindgren have been signed to the organization to date. Bracco’s stock has fallen greatly in the last year, he was once thought to be a surefire NHL’er, now his future seems unclear. Both Scott and Woll hold NHL potential, but neither truly projects to be a clear-cut starting goalie, at least at this time. Lindgren, assuming he continues on his current track of development, seems to be a fringe player at best. The remainder of the prospects whose rights are still owned by the Leafs continue their careers in Europe and the NCAA, to middling results.
Up next is the part where things really get rough.
Toronto Maple Leafs Errors
Now for the painful part: who the Toronto Maple Leafs missed out on.
In 2015, the following players were all still on the board at the time of the Andrew Nielsen pick: Sidney Crosby’s linemate, Dominik Simon, Columbus defensemen Vladislav Gavrikov and Markus Nutivaara, Calgary’s Andrew Mangiapane, and, oh yeah, Stanley Cup Champion Anthony Cirelli. What do the Leafs have to show from this draft, post-Dermott pick? 39 games of Dmytro Timashov and a big “maybe” in Jesper Lindgren.
In 2016, you likely already know that Yegor Korshkov was the first pick and Chicago’s budding star Alex DeBrincat was chosen eight picks later, but just a little further down that list, you’ll find Philadelphia’s starting goalie Carter Hart. Just absolutely aggravating to look back on now. There’s one other player the Leafs missed out on from the late rounds of this draft who is a bonafide NHL’er, New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt, who has 100 points in 185 games played.
2017 is harder to judge, very few players from this draft class (excluding first-rounders and Dubas’ preferred 4th round choice Emil Bemstrom) have made the jump to the big leagues yet. The only choice I’ll openly criticize right now is Eemeli Rasanen. Despite his 6’7 frame, he doesn’t project to be much of an NHL player, he’s currently being bounced around teams in Europe after leaving a very promising career at the North American major-junior level. Michael DiPietro, a Vancouver goalie prospect with a high ceiling, and Morgan Geekie, a Carolina center with 3 goals in 2 NHL games, were both still on the board at the time.
Even the most hardcore Hunter fans have to be pretty disappointed with the lack of results.
In comparison, of the players drafted by Dubas in his two years so far, two of them (Sandin and Robertson) have likely graduated to the NHL full-time. Four others: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Mac Hollowell, Filip Kral, and Mikhail Abramov have signed entry-level contracts.
Kral and Hollowell are staples on the Marlies right now, Der-Arguchintsev will graduate to the Marlies or Newfoundland Growlers to continue developing after a very successful junior career, and Abramov was just named captain of the Victoriaville Tigres in the QMJHL.
In addition to those players, several other draft picks are thriving on their respective teams, particularly Nick Abruzzese and Mikko Kokkonen, I’d expect to see both put pen to paper very soon on rookie contracts.
Next. Kyle Dubas' Top 5 Moves as GM. dark
Like I said at the top, drafting good players, especially in late rounds, is really hard. But even with that, it’s painfully obvious that Mark Hunter was not good at his job, and part of the Toronto Maple Leafs current struggles are a direct result of absolutely dismal drafting that prioritized size over skill in most instances.