Drafting the Current Toronto Maple Leafs Roster In Their Prime

The Toronto Maple Leafs current roster is stacked with elite talent. We reimagine what a draft would look like if selecting these players in their prime.

We are going to get into a fun exercise that could potentially lead to some healthy debate. This article will explore what would happen if we used our Editor In Leaf time machine to collect all the players on the 2020-21 Toronto Maple Leafs roster in their prime and then hold a draft to allow others to pick ten of these players.

You may be asking yourself, why would we do this? With access to a time machine, there is so much more that can be accomplished. Well, we’re a Leafs site. There’s no not to worry though. Not only will we be sharing these great players but as we travel through time we will also be doing a lot of good as well, such as blocking Harold Ballard from ever buying the Leafs. We’ll pay a visit to former general manager, John Furgeson Jr., and persuade him against trading Tuukka Rask to the Boston Bruins for Andrew Raycroft. That’s not our mission right now, but we’ll make time.

Before drafting the players, teams want to consider all the same things they would if they had the opportunity to bring in any player to their organization. To run this hypothetical draft we consider many different factors. They include speed, skill, shooting, production, leadership, and longevity.

The decisions won’t be easy, especially when the Toronto Maple Leafs current collection of players has nine skaters who were originally selected in the top ten their year of the NHL Entry Draft. This includes three first-overall draft picks. Toronto even has an 11th overall pick in goaltender Jack Campbell.

We will begin, as one would, at the start of the draft. All active players are eligible, coaches and executives are not. Stepping to the podium is Leafs legend, Tim Horton, who we brought back in the time machine to announce the first pick.