By S Michael
Here at Scoop on Hockey we are taking a periodic look back at who the Leafs drafted over the last decade and check in on how it started, and how it’s going.
2013
Yes this was the draft where we took Freddie Gauthier in the first round who we recently profiled as playing for a struggling squad in the Swiss League.
But while I remember Freddie fondly, I did not realize that our third round pick, at spot 82, was none other than Carter Verhaeghe. Yes that’s right, the same guy who leads the Florida Panthers in goal scoring this year (on a team with Barkov and Tkachuk). Here he is after goal 30 the other night.
And if you don’t believe me, here’s some visual proof from Toronto Maple Leafs Twitter feed in 2014:
Plus get this, he is from Toronto! So what happened. Well hockeydb breaks it down. Carter played exactly 2 games for the Toronto Marlies (where he got 1 assist, not bad!) before he was traded, then spent 6 years grinding it out in the AHL, before making it to the NHL with first with Tampa Bay. He’s now played 234 NHL games and has 157 points over four seasons. This year he will put up career best numbers for sure.
So who did we trade him for? Well we sent him and four other guys to the Islanders for Michael Grabner. He played 80 games for the Leafs. And got 18 points. Ugh. The top 6 forward you always wanted, and he was ours.
As a Leaf fan, if it makes you feel any better, Tampa let him go and Florida signed him as a free agent. So at least we got Grabner.