Dave Nonis’ tenure as the Toronto Maple Leafs GM was not long and is not often looked upon highly. One of his decisions that have to be looked upon fondly would have to be when he used the Maple Leafs’ seventh-round pick and 188th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft to select a tall lanky kid playing in Vastra Frolunda of the Swedish Junior League by the name of Pierre Engvall.
He had just turned 18 years old weeks before the draft and had finished second on his team in goals and fourth in points. He also got a one-game call-up to the Swedish 1st Division League. Most picks out of the first round become a lottery whether or not the player actually becomes an NHL-caliber player, selecting someone in the seventh round is equivalent to magic beans.
Engvall would go back to his junior team for the 2014-15 season and lead his club in points with 51 in 38 games. He would rise to the top Swedish league for a few seasons and even scored 20+ goals in 50 games during the 2016-17 season.
Pierre Engvall doubted all the naysayers of the Toronto Maple Leafs
At the end of the following season, the speedy forward would come over to North America to finish out the season with the Toronto Marlies collecting eight points in nine games before helping the club win the 2018 Calder Cup Trophy as the AHL Champions.
Part way through the 2019-20 season the Maple Leafs would call Engvall up to the big club where he scored his first NHL goal in his second career game. During his rookie campaign, he would tease fans with an offensive upside as he had a stretch of 11 games where he recorded six goals and nine points.
However, over his final 25 games, he would record just one goal and three points. Unfortunately, during the span of his career with the Maple Leafs this was often the case as he would have long stretches of not finding himself in the boxscore.
Over the next few years, Engvall would continue to give glimpses of the potential of being a complimentary top six forward and even scored 15 goals in 2021-22 despite averaging just over 13 minutes a game.
Fans will likely remember Engvall as a tall speedy winger, that was soft in the corners and rarely threw a hit. However, you have to look back at Engvall’s selection as a success for the Maple Leafs; he was a seventh-round pick that not only made it to the NHL but played 226 games for the club and twice scored double-digit goals. He would play so well he would earn a multi-million dollar contract and when traded earned the team a third-round pick in return.
Good luck to Pierre Engvall on Long Island.