The Toronto Maple Leafs got some good news on Monday night.
Thanks to the Los Angeles Kings clinching the playoffs, the conditional third-round pick that they received in return for center Scott Laughton at the trade deadline, is now a second-round pick.
Maple Leafs get draft pick upgraded thanks to Kings
Monday night saw a lot happen for the conditional third to become a second. For the Maple Leafs to acquire the second-rounder, the San Jose Sharks needed to beat the Nashville Predators in regulation, which they did 3-2, and the Kings needed to beat the Seattle Kraken, which ended 5-3.
Many Maple Leafs fans were hoping for a Seattle Kraken win so the Maple Leafs could widen the gap in the bottom five of the NHL and give themselves the best odds of keeping their first-round pick, which is top-five protected. The Maple Leafs blew a 5-3 lead in the third period on Monday against the Dallas Stars, keeping them within the bottom five of the NHL.
The only down side of this happening is that the upgrade isn't that big of a deal. Now, the draft pick that they own is the Sabres' 2026 second-round pick, and with Buffalo firmly in the top five of the overall league standings in the final week of the regular season, that pick will be around 59th to 64th overall.
Not a nightmare scenario anymore, but it's certainly not a major upgrade.
The Maple Leafs currently hold picks in the second, third, and fourth rounds, along with two selections in the fifth and one in the sixth. They will need to use these opportunities and uncover solid prospects in the later stages of the draft. Toronto has done a good job identifying value in recent years, but with a depleted prospect pool, every pick moving forward will be very important to the organization’s future.
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