Toronto Maple Leafs Top 10 Prospects at the Start of the 2021-22 Season
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t picked in the top ten since they drafted Auston Matthews first overall in 2016.
In addition to five years of low picks, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had to overcome the horrible drafting of the Mark Hunter / Lou Lamoriello years. The old-school contingent (who ultimately, and correctly, lost the power struggle to lead the team) drafted for size and grit, and set the team back years with their poor drafting.
Under Kyle Dubas the Leafs swing for the fences. Utilizing the fact that you can acquire role players at will (as Dubas has shown every summer he’s been in charge) the Leafs draft for talent with the hope of hitting on a high-end player.
This strategy requires patience, but we should start to see the fruits of their labor this season when Rasmus Sandin and possibly Nick Robertson become NHL regulars.
The Leafs farm system is potentially going to be a huge feather in Kyle Dubas’ cap, but that remains to be seen. For now, what we have is a collection of players who give the Leafs a shot at finding their Duncan Keith/Kris Letang/Nikita Kucherov (i.e that low drafted superstar who gives a team too good to draft highly anymore the kind of rocket boost needed to become an elite team).
Though lacking in the kind of high-end players that the league’s most recent bad teams have collected, the Leafs system is well regarded and getting better. Here are their current top ten prospects, ranked with a more weight given to star potential than a chance to make the NHL.
Statistics, height, weight, contract status and draft position for this article were taken from hockeydb, youtube, capfriendly.