If you are a someone who grew up in the 2000s or 2010s, you probably have great memories of your favorite Toronto Maple Leafs prospects blossoming into superstars.
The kids of today have gotten to enjoy the Leafs drafting players like William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly, Mitch Marner, Matthews Knies, Joseph Woll and Easton Cowan.
But for us kids born in the 80s and 90s, it wasn't so much.
In the year 1998 Tomas Kaberle was a rookie defenderwho went on have a near-Hall of Fame Career - he was basically the only prospect of the 90s you could have cheer for that paid off, and since he was a 7th round pick, he was never very hyped at all.
Cheering for a young player with a ton of potential is a hallmark of sports fandom. Nothing is more exciting that cheering for a new player that's only ever played for your favorite team and watching them blossom into a star.
But if you're a Leafs fan, you only know that feeling recently, or from other sports.
Remembering the 2 Biggest Toronto Maple Leafs Busts of My Childhood
When Brandon Convery was drafted 8th overall in the 1992 draft, I assumed he was gonig to be a big star.
The local kid from Kingston was going to play behind Dougie Gilmour and give the Leafs an incredible 1-2 punch for years to come. Unfortunately, the Doug Gilmour Era consisted of only four full seasons (one of which was cut in half by a lockout) bookended by the season in which they acquired him and the season in which they traded him away.
As for Convery, he never quite made it. I was 10 when he was drafted and held out for years with the belief that he'd be a great player, but he never was.
Eventually he was traded to the Canucks and I learned the lesson that players the Leafs draft will nearly always let you down!
Another player I got my hopes for when I was a kid was Jeff Ware.
Ware went 15th overall to the Leafs in the 1995 draft. He played 13 games a year later, and only 2 the year after that before being sent to Flordida to play for the Panthers.
Ware only played 21 NHL games and had just a single assist, but I remember when I thought that he and Brandon Convery were going to form an amazing nucleous for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ultimately, the most interesting thing about Jeff Ware is that even though the Leafs used the 15th overall pick to select him, they ended up eventually having three of the first four picks on their roster.
While that would normally be cool, Bryan Berard was injured in a freak accident, and the other two were Aki Berg and Chad Kilger.