Toronto Maple Leafs 2016 NHL Entry Draft Retrospective

Third Pick

With the 57th overall selection, the Leafs chose feisty Swedish winger Carl Grundstrom.

None of the players mentioned as candidates before were available and he himself was slated to go in the early-mid second round so getting him near the end was looked at as a solid selection.

He did not seem to have game breaking ability but he showed promise to be a decent third line forward. 

After a couple more seasons in the SHL, Grundstrom would finally make the move to the Marlies where he showed a lot of promising producing 13 goals and 29 points in 42 games in his first North American season.

But partway through, he would be shipped out as part of a package to the LA Kings for stud blueliner Jake Muzzin.

Since then, he has mainly stuck as a bottom-six forward for the Kings and although not hitting his projected ceiling, he has shown to be a capable NHLer logging over 200 games in the NHL.

Both from an actual career standpoint as well as value to the Leafs, this has proven to be a good pick in hindsight.