The NHL Draft Trap That Can Sink the Toronto Maple Leafs

With the NHL Entry Draft just days away, the Toronto Maple Leafs scouts are working around the clock with the team’s new general manager, Brad Treliving.

They will be putting eyes on players from around the globe trying to determine who is best for the Toronto Maple Leafs to draft.

This will be Trevliving’s biggest set of decisions since he’s been appointed to his office. It’s important that the players the Leafs decide to select help the future of the franchise. To do so, Treliving and his team need to avoid the past mistakes that have set the team back.

The Leafs have passed on drafting impact players over the years. They’ve done so by over valuing height. It’s a trap that isn’t unique to Toronto. Many teams have done the same over the years.

The NHL Draft Trap That Can Sink the Toronto Maple Leafs

The best example of allowing height to cloud scouts’ judgement may be Tampa Bay Lightning’s franchise leader in points (953) and assists (588), Martin St-Louis. For context, this is a man who over his playing career has reached the apex of the sport. He has won the Hart Trophy, a Ted Lindsay Award, two Art Ross Trophies, three Lady Byng Memorial Trophies, an Olympic gold medal, and most importantly, a Stanley Cup.

A player this good could have easily been the first pick in his draft class. St-Louis wasn’t. That distinction belongs to Alexandre Daigle.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had two picks in the first round of that 1993 draft. They took Kenny Jonsson with the 12th selection and Landon Wilson with the 19th. Even though St-Louis scored 37 goals and 50 assist for 87 points in just 31 games with the Hawkesbury Hawks in the CJHL, he wasn’t a first round pick.

The 1993 draft had 11 rounds and 286 players heard their names called. None of them were the five-foot-eight right-winger who was never drafted. He needed to take a circuitous route to the NHL. However, had St-Louis been six inches taller, he would have certainly been given a greater opportunity earlier on.

The same year the entire NHL skipped over a Hall-of-Famer, a future Leafs draft choice was born. He epitomizes those same draft day mistakes. That would be Tyler Biggs, the six-foot-two right-winger. A product of the USA National Development Team, the Leafs traded up to get him. Biggs never made it to the NHL.

In 2016, the Toronto Maple Leafs had the chance to take a player in the second round that had only fallen that low because he is five-foot-seven.

That would be Alex DeBrincat. After having already brought Auston Matthews into the fold, Toronto could have made an incredible splash had they chosen DeBrincat who had obliterated the competition in the OHL. That year with the Erie Otters, DeBrincat played 63 games and recorded 65 goals and 62 assists for a total of 127 points.

Instead of going with the undersized sniper, the Leafs took a chance on Egor Korshkov, a left-winger from the KHL. Korshkov played a total of one NHL game. To his credit, he also scored a goal in that contest.

Hopefully, when Treliving starts making picks at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 28 and 29, he doesn’t allow size to negatively impact his decision making.

(Note: All stats from Hockey DB.) Hopefully, when Treliving starts making picks at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 28 and 29, he doesn’t allow size to negatively impact his decision making.