2. Will the Leafs Finally Develop a Low-Picked Star?
Over 20 years ago, Tomas Kaberle, a 7th round pick, made the Leafs and stayed on their blue-line for over a decade, easily becoming the second-best defenseman in franchise history, after Borje Salming.
Unfortunately, since Kaberle the Leafs have been unable to take a player drafted outside the top ten and turn him into a star.
There is a good chance they can do that, and it's undersold how important it is.
Think of all the best teams of the Salary Cap Era and how they were augmented by supestars who weren't drafted highly - Chicago (Keith), Pittsburgh (Letang), Sharks (Pavelski) Kings (Quick), Wings (Datsyuk, Zetterberg), Canucks (Edler), Lightning (Point), Panthers (Forsling) and Boston (Bergeron).
The Leafs despertely need a player like that to augment their lineup.
Could it be Matthews Knies riding shot-gun with Mitch Marner and scoring 40 times?
Maybe it's Nick Robertson - every player who has scored as much as he did in the OHL at the age he did it at has scored 40 goals in an NHL season.
Or perhaps its Easton Cowan who would picked a lot higher if last year's draft was done over.
Bottom line: if the Leafs are going to win the Stanley Cup they need to find their own Duncan Keith.