It's been twelve seasons since the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Morgan Rielly with the 5th pick of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and cemented the first piece of their eventual core.
Two years later, the Toronto Maple Leafs took William Nylander 8th overall, and followed that up by drafting Mitch Marner 4th and Auston Matthews 1st.
As soon as they drafted Matthews, the rebuild was effectively over because all their subsequent draft picks would be middle of the pack or lower. It has now been 8 drafts since the Leafs made a high pick and while trying to be competitive, they have traded many of the picks they did have along the way.
Therefore, the 2024 Toronto Maple Leafs do not have a very good prospect system. With years of low picks, traded prospects and very few obvious successes, the Leafs just don't have a very good system.
it is, however, better than it could be. That might be faint praise, but a decade of drafting for hockey-sense and high-end skill may yet pay off. The Leafs are not stocked with high-end talent, but they do have some intriguing players and their overall system is, all things considered, not that bad.
If there is one additional thing that hurts this group, its all the recent graduations. Joseph Woll, who came into this season with the inside track on the starter's job, was their top prospect just last year. Matthews Knies was their number-two prospect and Nick Robertson was third. All three are now on the Leafs and in the NHL.
Before we get to the top ten, we'll recap the last couple years for posterity.