Toronto Maple Leafs 2014 NHL Draft Retrospective
The 2014 NHL draft is what many point to as the turning point for the Toronto Maple Leafs rebuild.
It was one year after the infamous blown 4-1 lead against the Boston Bruins in game seven of the first round. It also came just months after the Toronto Maple Leafs announced Brendan Shanahan was hired to be the team president and it seemed as though they were finally headed in the right direction.
Leading up to the draft, there seemed to be a consensus top-four emerging with Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Leon Draisaitl, and Sam Bennett in different orders.
After that, it was a lot more wide open and the debate involving Toronto’s eighth overall pick was fierce.
Many felt going for bigger “good Canadian kid” powerforwards in Jake Virtanen or Nick Ritchie was the way to go.
Many felt that smaller European wingers Nikolaj Ehlers, Kasperi Kapanen, or William Nylander was the way to go.
In the draft, they held a pick in every round except the second, which was dealt in November 2013 in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks for prospect Peter Holland.
Toronto Maple Leafs 2014 NHL Draft Retrospective
First pick
In the first round the Toronto Maple Leafs were slated to pick eighth and like I mentioned, it was a hotly debated topic amongst fans and media on who they should take.
Thankfully, the Leafs had their pick of the lot with all except Virtanen available when the Leafs were on the board. Of course, Leafs GM Dave Nonis stepped up to the podium and said “Toronto is proud and happy to select from Modo, Sweden… William Nylander."
And as they say, the rest is history.
Ten years later, the Leafs 100% made the right choice. There are only four players throughout the entire draft with more career points than Nylander: Sam Reinhart, Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak, and Brayden Point. Even in Reinhart’s case, he has played 93 more games than Nylander with only 10 more points.
In a redraft, Nylander almost certainly slot into the top five.
Second Pick
Next, the Leafs did not pick until the third round at 68th overall because they did not have a second. Here the Leafs chose left-handed defenseman Rinat Valiev from the WHL’s Kootenay Ice.
Valiev, born in Nizhnekamsk, Russian was listed at 6-1 196lbs and was an overager who was eligible to be selected in 2013.
Even in 2014, the Valiev selection raised eyebrows and it does not look much better in hindsight. Although he showed some promise with adept skating abilities and sound defensive game, he had limited potential from the get-go scoring only 28 points in 55 games in his DY+1.
As such, he played only 12 NHL games with the Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. At 29, He is currently playing in Kazhakstan after bouncing between Russia’s first and second tier KHL and VHL the last few seasons.
Third Pick
In the fourth round, at 103rd overall, the Leafs opted to swing for potential selecting USHL-standout JJ Piccinich.
In his draft year, he ranked third in scoring league-wide and was going to join the Boston College Terriers to play with Jack Eichel the following season.
Unfortunately, things did not pan out there and he left to join the London Knights of the OHL the year after to finish out his junior eligibility.
After turning pro he played primarily in the ECHL until 2021 when he went to the United Kingdom to play in the EIHL with the Belfast Giants before spending the past two season in Norway. However, he is slated to rejoin the Giants next season.
Fourth Pick
At 128th overall in the fifth round, the Leafs went back to the USHL to select powerforward center, Dakota Joshua.
After another year with the Sioux Falls Stampede, Joshua joined Ohio State University. There he had a few up and down seasons before his negotiating rights were dealt to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations in 2019.
Since then, he has spent the past five years working up from the ECHL to an NHL bottom-six forward role with the Vancouver Canucks.
In 184 games played he has scored 33 goals and 31 assists for 64 points. His perseverance is admirable and with the Leafs rumoured to be interested in signing him this off-season, we could soon see a full-circle moment for the 28-year-old.
Fifth Pick
Although not a USHL player, the Leafs used their sixth round, 158th overall selection on USPHL forward Nolan Vesey. Brother of future Leaf, Jimmy Vesey and son of Leafs’ scout Jim Vesey, the Vesey bloodlines run deep in Toronto.
He would spend the next four seasons playing for University of Maine before having his rights sent to the Edmonton Oilers for a conditional seventh.
Vesey would spend the next few seasons bouncing around the ECHL and AHL before signing in the Erste Liga last season, which is a Romanian and Hungarian based professional hockey league.
Sixth Pick
The sixth and final selection that the Leafs made in 2014 came in the seventh round at 188th overall when they took Swedish winger Pierre Engvall.
As with all Leafs’ Swedish draft picks, the Engvall pick can be credited to legendary scout Thommie Bergman. Of course, this pick was about as good as you can hope for from a seventh round pick.
Engvall worked his way up from the Swedish junior ranks to the Allsvenskan before joining the Toronto Marlies in 2018. He spent the next season and a half developing with the Leafs farm team before breaking into a bottom-six role.
He has carved out a niche as a defensively responsible winger with speed who excels in carrying the puck. After being traded to the Islanders in 2023, he has since signed a seven-year deal worth $3 million per season in Long Island.
Although Engvall is not a star, he has scored 120 points and played 318 games so far in his career and at 28-years old and with six seasons remaining on his deal, he should be a mainstay in the NHL for a few more years. This was a no-doubt homerun pick in the seventh round.
Conclusion
All-in-all, the Leafs 2014 draft has been somewhat of a success.
Three out of six players are current day NHLers with one being a truly elite talent. However, two of those players - Engvall and Joshua - are bottom-of-the-lineup guys, and one of them never played for the Leafs.
This draft starts a disturbing trend where the Leafs grab a star player and then don't do much else with the picks. If they hit on more middle-round picks, the first eigtht years of the Auston Matthews Era likely go a lot differently.
Of course, there was plenty of talent to be found elsewhere in the draft with the Leafs missing out on steals like Brayden Point, Devon Toews, Viktor Arvidsson, amongst others. Though they could have done worse and were able to come away with some late round hits.
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At this time, only one member of the draft class currently plays for the Leafs. But as of next year, it could be two.