by S. Ferguson
There is no better way to rebuild your team or add depth to your roster than through the draft. The 2023 version is coming up at the end of the month and between now and then, every few days, we are going to take a look back at what the Leafs did at a specific draft. Our journey so far…
2014: Added first member of the core four
THE 2015 DRAFT
This is the big one! No draft has had as big an impact on today’s NHL quite like 2015. Connor McDavid! Jack Eichel! Mitch Marner! That’s right Mitch Marner!
LEAFS FIRST ROUND
Mitch Marner was our pick at fourth overall. Leafs brass must have been over the moon when Arizona took Dylan Strome at number three. I don’t care what anyone says, Marner is incredible and the numbers show it. No one in this draft after McDavid has had more points than Mitch.
WHO WE COULD HAVE HAD:
No one better that’s for sure. Though there were some excellent players in the next ten picks like Noah Hanifin, Zach Werenski, Timo Meier, Mikko Rantanen. Later in the round there was also Mathew Barzal, Kyle Conner, and Thomas Chabot. But we got Mitch so who cares.
OUR OTHER PICKS:
We had 9 picks in this draft. We hit, kind of, in the second round with Travis Dermott who was part of the 2018 Calder Cup winning Marlies team and has played 279 games in the NHL though now he is with Vancouver. I will say one thing that stings about this pick is that with the very next pick Carolina chose Sebastian Aho who is the face of their franchise.
Dmytro Timashov was on that Marlies team too. He played 39 games for the Leafs but then was claimed off waivers by the Red Wings. He now plays in Sweden.
The other 6 picks never played in the NHL. Jeremy Bracco lit up the AHL racking up points for the Marlies but just never made it any higher. He played in the KHL last season. I personally had high hopes for Stephen Desrocher who won the Memorial Cup with the Oshawa Generals. He is still playing according to hockeydb.com but in Italy.
PICKED WITH OUR PICKS:
These always sting. We had the 24th overall pick that Philly turned into Travis Konecny who has been great for them.
CONCLUSION
Hey we got one of the best players in the league in Mitch Marner, what else can you ask for?