The Toronto Maple Leafs Have Signed First-Round Pick Ben Danford

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Ben Danford with the 31st pick of the 2024-25 NHL Entry Draft.

The Toronto Maple Leafs also announced Friday morning that they've locked Danford up to an entry-level, three-year contract.

The contract is fairly automatic with a recent draft pick, but there are those players, notable the New York Rangers annual Norris Trophy candidate Adam Fox, who elect not to sign with their drafting teams and eventually become free-agents.

That won't be the case here, as Danford is now locked up and ready for training camp in September.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Have Signed First-Round Pick Ben Danford

Ben Danford was selected after the Leafs traded down from the 23rd pick.

The Leafs had no other picks until the fourth round, so GM Brad Treliving was forced to maneuver so that he could add a couple extra picks to the Leafs cache.

First Treliving sent the 23rd pick to Anaheim for the 31st pick and the 58th pick. Then he sent the 58th pick to Florida for a 2nd rounder next year and a 7th this year.

So to move back eight spots and pick the player they almost certainly wanted anyways, the Leafs picked up two extra draft picks. This has back fired in the past (notably with Travis Konecny and Travis Dermott) but it's a solid move that works in your favor almost every time.

As for Danford, it's hard to get a read on this pick.

At first glance, he seems like a player with too low of a ceiling for the first round. Why bother picking a defensive player who tops out as a number-four?

Then again, Wes Clark made the pick and after years of solid drafting (the Leafs prospect pipeline isn't great, but it's way better than it has any right to be after making the playoffs for seven straight years and constantly trading away their picks).

With Clark making this pick, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Both Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten look like good picks now even though they appeared to be misguided selections at the time they occurred.

But countering that is the hype. Maybe it was Steve Dangle, maybe it was Rick Calculus, I can't remember, had a whole thing about Danford being an underrated pick and one of the best and most NHL ready players in the draft, who could potentially make the team this October.

As a life-long Leafs fan..........I'll believe it when I see it.

Danford should be a solid pick, and maybe the best-case scenarios are right and his potential is much higher than the second pairing top-out that has been widely reported. He's 18 and we just don't know what he's going to turn into when he grows up.

It's good to have signed him though.