The Toronto Maple Leafs entered this draft with a few specific goals in mind. Firstly, we wanted to get bigger. We have several small players throughout our organization and it was time to add some beef to the prospect pool. Secondly, we wanted to strengthen the prospect pool when it comes to defensemen and goaltenders. And finally, we wanted to add goal scoring wingers to our ECHL team.
After trading 3rd overall and severall 2nd and 3rd rounders over the last few weeks, we were slated to make our first selection at 74. However, we added two earlier picks through trades on draft day and went home with 4 forwards, 2 defensemen and 2 goaltenders.
There are several promising defensemen projected to be drafted in the 2nd and 3rd round this year and we always planned to draft one or two of those. After Buffalo took "our" player at 49 (Jayce Hawryluk), we decided to add to our blueline at 51 with big rearguard
Alexis Vanier. Standing at 6'5 and 215, Vanier already possesses really good size. He contributed 15 goals and 21 assists last season and has the potential to be a dangerous powerplay weapon in the NHL. He will have to work on his skating though, since that seems to be his biggest weakness.
We added yet another defenseman with our next pick. Given that he's a Calgary Hitmen player, we honestly didn't think that
Ben Thomas would still be available at 68, so we are very happy with this selection. Thomas is a good two-way defenseman with good skating who could use some more muscle on his frame and develop a more physical game, but the tools are all there to be an everyday NHLer somewhere down the road.
With our third pick in this draft, we took big forward
Keegan Iverson from one of the most consistenly good junior teams in North America, the Portland Winterhawks. Iverson can also play center, but we expect him to become a power forward on the wing in the NHL. Standing at 6'0 and 215, Iverson does a lot of dirty work and can complement more skilled forwards on a line.
After missing Alex Nedeljkovic in the second round, we wanted to make sure to get the next goaltender on our list and that was Finnish netminder
Kaapo Kahkonen. You can never go wrong with Finnish goaltenders and the Leafs have now added two of those in this draft class (Ville Husso was signed as a free agent). Last season, Kahkonen was still playing in the Finnish junior league, so we are interested in seeing how he copes when he makes the switch to the elite Liiga in the fall.
At 83, we went back to the forward ranks and took a kid that we saw higher on many lists. Like Iverson,
Shane Eiserman is yet another strong power forward in the making. At 6'2 and 205, Eiserman possesses good size and strength in addition to good puck skills. Eiserman is committed to the University of New Hampshire and will start his college career in the fall.
With our next pick, we continued with our goal of adding big goal scoring wingers and took
Darby Llewellyn from the Kitchener Rangers. Llewellyn led the Rangers in goal scoring last season with 25 goals and was only one point shy of teammate Ryan MacInnis. We like his natural goal scoring ability, but he is definitely a work in progress. Among other things, Llewellyn will have to get bigger and stronger to make it to the NHL level.
The fourth and final forward selected was
Connor Chatham from the Plymouth Whalers. Chatham is yet another big winger who can become a power forward at the NHL level, and at 6'3 and 225, he's by far the biggest one we drafted this year. We hope he'll make a big step forward in the scoring department next season.
And finally, we added another goalie to the stable.
Edwin Minney is a big goaltender from the heralded U.S. National Development Program, carrying a big workload in their several teams over the last two seasons. Minney will go to Michigan State University next season.
Toronto Draft Review
