How would you rate out drafting the past few years??

[mapleleafslaughssame]

Seems pretty bad who do we really have that’s promising?

Click to read more...

 

[stickty111]

Seems pretty bad who do we really have that’s promising?

Hunter's drafts were a mess. Dubas drafts are more promising.
I did a comparison of the two if you are interested.

Draft Comparison/Present Results-

I thought it would be interesting to compare Dubas’s drafts from Hunter’s drafts and evaluate how each did. This isn’t meant to be in support of any of the two. Just to look at the results. Remember what they are now can always change in the future. These are just for right now. I will grade...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Seems pretty bad who do we really have that’s promising?

Hunter's drafts were a mess. Dubas drafts are more promising.
I did a comparison of the two if you are interested.

Draft Comparison/Present Results-

I thought it would be interesting to compare Dubas’s drafts from Hunter’s drafts and evaluate how each did. This isn’t meant to be in support of any of the two. Just to look at the results. Remember what they are now can always change in the future. These are just for right now. I will grade...

forums.hfboards.com

Pretty much how it went.

Hunter did very poorly despite a ton of high end draft capital.

Marner, Dermott, Matthews, Grundstrom, (maybe) Woll, and Liljegren. Bergman, once again, saves our butts with his Swede picks. Everyone else busted in one way or another (some became solid AAAA talent, others had some injuries).

It is still a little bit early for most of the guys we drafted under Dubas, but Sandin and Durzi are already in the NHL. Holmberg, Abruzzese, and Robertson are knocking on the door this year. Kral should be getting some opportunities as well. And then many others who are progressing well but still need a couple of years, and that does not include various FA's like Steeves we have brought in too.

What I do not like:
- Russia. Figure it out, because it sucks and has sucked for far too many regimes now. Not a problem reserved for the Leafs alone though; a lot of teams suck at drafting Russians.

- Drafting non-elite offensive defensemen. Loponen, Fusco, Hollowell and Rindell do not have NHL upside. If you are going to draft an offensive defenseman, they need to be someone who can put up at least 40 points on the back end. Those four guys never had that upside. It is fine if they are small, but you need to be a reliable two-way guy like Koster at least. Losing a 4th, 6th, and 2 7ths is not really a big deal, but we can do better.

- Goalies. We don't need to draft more goalies as many have suggested; we need to draft better goalies. 4 goalies in 5 years is more than enough, especially when we have also been steadily adding guys through free agency and AHL contracts as well (Kallgren, Petruzzelli, Cavallin, etc.). Russian goalies fall under the first category already. Bouthillier was fringy, but acceptable. He is the kind of guy where, if your goalie scout really goes to bat for him, you can live with the occasional 7th being spent on him. Hildeby will be interesting, and while I think it may have been a bit early and I didn't have him on my final draft board due to his age and limited sample size in the SHL, he was on it in up until April or May because he looked really good in that limited sample size. More than that though, I am not sure I think drafting Moldenhauer over Brennan or Grebyonkin over Young and Ivanov really made sense if we really wanted some promising young goalies in the system.

- WHL. We have already swapped out some of our scouts, with Derkatch getting replaced with Ritchie and Speltz leaving for Vegas. It is feast or famine, but I just think that is just Malarchuk and I doubt we are going to change out a guy who has been here for 30 years and I can live with it as long as we don't invest a ton of picks out there.

I am fine with the rest of our drafting. They don't fall for the size fallacy, and they draft guys with upside which exceeds the bargain bin threshold.

 

[ACC1224]

Seems pretty bad who do we really have that’s promising?

Hunter didn’t do very well. It looks better recently but that always seems to be the case until they start contributing. TBD.

 

[Advanced stats]

Really really good since Hunter.

By my count there's 13-15 guys who will be definite NHLers

Sandin
Durzi
Holmburg
SDA
Robertson
Abruzzese
Amirov (if healthy)
Villeneuve
Hirvionen
Niemela
Knies
Minten

Plus a slew of guys who could easily develop yet.

 

[29Potvin]

Really really good since Hunter.

By my count there's 13-15 guys who will be definite NHLers

Sandin
Durzi
Holmburg
SDA
Robertson
Abruzzese
Amirov (if healthy)
Villeneuve
Hirvionen
Niemela
Knies
Minten

Plus a slew of guys who could easily develop yet.

That fact that we are trending in that direction without the 1st round picks over the last few years is a bright spot and shows that 25-32 in the first round is a crapshoot and anything can happen.
That's why the Tampa Bay has had no issue trading 1st over the years, they are one of the best drafting teams in the league and I would say the Canes are right up with them.
Its a slippery slop if you trade those picks and don't hit in the later rounds as we have witnessed with other teams.

 

[justashadowof]

The Liljegren and Sandin picks alone are accomplishments to boast about. There are two prospects that appear to highly likely to be NHL regulars in Robertson and Knies. After that, we can fantasize about everyone else until they actually start standing out at the AHL level like Robertson has.

The Leafs literally have 1 player on their NHL roster who they drafted themselves outside the 1st round (Engvall, 2014). And that was under another regime. Since 2015 they've drafted 3 players outside the 1st round I'd consider NHL regulars (Grundstrom - bottom 6 forward, Durzi - 2nd pairing defender, Dermott - 3rd pairing defender).

 

[Mess]

All prospects are suspects until they're not.

I'm hitching my wagon of hope for a solid top 6 player in Matty Knies .. He is the one true hope of landing a NHL regular that has top 6 capability with the size and strength to make a difference. He will likely be added for Leafs playoff run once his college year ends.

The Leafs have traded away soooo many picks in the last 4 years in a scorched earth approach to fuel the current machine that there isn't a lot coming from the limited selections being made. particularly when those picks are the high ones of 1sts and 2nds heading out the door to correct your UFA signing mistakes or acquiring 39 year old dmen.

All those previous years of drafting small skilled 5-10 players were all wasted picks the moment they were announced for the most part.

 

[egd27]

Hunter didn’t do very well. It looks better recently but that always seems to be the case until they start contributing. TBD.

I've been reading about how strong our prospect pool is since I joined over 10 years ago. But outside of the Top 10 picks, it's been pretty dismal.

 

[Nineteen67]

Who knows?
Not that it matters right now, but not many of their younger prospects are rated to be top of lineup players. Knies looks like he’ll be a top 6.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Picking Yegor Korshkov at 31 is probably the biggest swing and miss in recent memory. Otherwise, we've been short on picks and are producing reasonably well. What in particular seems pretty bad?

Amirov is recovering
Sandin and Lilly are both very early into potentially very promising careers
Knies is perhaps our best prospects and he's very young
Robertson certainly has an impressive potential
We'll keep our eyes on Minten who "seems pretty good"
Engvall was a 7th round pick
Niemela and Hirvonen are interesting D projects
Abruzzese and Steeves will likely see NHL time this year

 

[Al14]

Draft shmaft!

 

[ACC1224]

I've been reading about how strong our prospect pool is since I joined over 10 years ago. But outside of the Top 10 picks, it's been pretty dismal.

We're always hopeful though

 

[zeke]

I've been reading about how strong our prospect pool is since I joined over 10 years ago. But outside of the Top 10 picks, it's been pretty dismal.

Over your time here then you've seen us draft:

Verhaghe - Matthews - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Nylander
Robertson - Engvall - Brown

Rielly - Liljegren
Sandin - Durzi
Dermott -


And then borderline guys like Grundstrom McKegg Carrick Toninato Leivo Gauthier Brooks who keep bouncing around still.

 

[egd27]

Over your time here then you've seen us draft:

Verhaghe - Matthews - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Nylander
Robertson - Engvall - Brown

Rielly - Liljegren
Sandin - Durzi
Dermott -


And then borderline guys like Grundstrom McKegg Carrick Toninato Leivo Gauthier Brooks who keep bouncing around still.

So, outside of the Top 10, we have a 3rd line forward, and couple of D that are finally starting to take regular shifts. Over 11 years, I would consider that pretty dismal.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

Really really good since Hunter.

By my count there's 13-15 guys who will be definite NHLers

Sandin
Durzi
Holmburg
SDA
Robertson
Abruzzese
Amirov (if healthy)
Villeneuve
Hirvionen
Niemela
Knies
Minten

Plus a slew of guys who could easily develop yet.

You think all of those guys are definite NHLers? As in, playing 10 games or what? 100?

I wouldn't put money on Abruzzese getting much more than a few cups of coffee, and most of the second half of that list are coin flips at best. Hell, even Robertson has a fair chance of busting, because if it's questionable if he's durable enough for a bottom 6 role if he can't produce enough in the top 6.

 

[Notsince67]

We're always hopeful though

High skilled draft but bad luck

 

[The Iceman]

Hunter's drafts were a mess. Dubas drafts are more promising.
I did a comparison of the two if you are interested.

Draft Comparison/Present Results-

I thought it would be interesting to compare Dubas’s drafts from Hunter’s drafts and evaluate how each did. This isn’t meant to be in support of any of the two. Just to look at the results. Remember what they are now can always change in the future. These are just for right now. I will grade...

forums.hfboards.com

I would like to see a "7" added.
Giving credit for a Brooks/Grundstorm as a 6 being NHL fringe players and giving the same 6 to Durzi who appears to be a top 4 regular doesn't seem fair.

Over your time here then you've seen us draft:

Verhaghe - Matthews - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Nylander
Robertson - Engvall - Brown

Rielly - Liljegren
Sandin - Durzi
Dermott -


And then borderline guys like Grundstrom McKegg Carrick Toninato Leivo Gauthier Brooks who keep bouncing around still.

Goalies have been heavily neglected or failed.

 

[ACC1224]

High skilled draft but bad luck

When it comes to 'bad luck' the Leafs are certainly 'elite'.

 

[zeke]

So, outside of the Top 10, we have a 3rd line forward, and couple of D that are finally starting to take regular shifts. Over 11 years, I would consider that pretty dismal.

You said you've always heard the Leafs have a good system while you were here - well, that system included those top-10 picks, it didn';t ignore them.

This is also true of other systems - their top-10 picks are also not ignored when evaluating their systems.

 

[egd27]

You said you've always heard the Leafs have a good system while you were here - well, that system included those top-10 picks, it didn';t ignore them.

This is also true of other systems - their top-10 picks are also not ignored when evaluating their systems.

This is what I said Zeke.

I've been reading about how strong our prospect pool is since I joined over 10 years ago. But outside of the Top 10 picks, it's been pretty dismal.

 

[BayStBullies]

Over your time here then you've seen us draft:

Verhaghe - Matthews - Marner
Johnsson - Kadri - Nylander
Robertson - Engvall - Brown

Rielly - Liljegren
Sandin - Durzi
Dermott -


And then borderline guys like Grundstrom McKegg Carrick Toninato Leivo Gauthier Brooks who keep bouncing around still.

Rask

 

[zeke]

This is what I said Zeke.

yes, but you also said you've been reading about how good our prospect pool is, and that reading always included those top-10 picks.

 

[93LEAFS]

For all this talk about Dubas/Clarks drafting, we really haven't seen any return on the main roster yet. Maybe it will come, but until guys either don't make it or they establish themselves it is hard to judge.

 

[paulhiggins]

If he signed Marner/Matthews/Nylander to longer term deals than he did, Dubas' sense of urgency to win now might be less and likely would have saved him from trading away high draft picks.