Despite not having any picks in the first two rounds in this year's CPHL Entry Draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs again enjoyed participating in the draft and ended up with a total of seven selections.
With the first pick in this year's draft, we chose a big defenseman in
Rasmus Andersson. The Swedish blueliner spent his draft year in the OHL and racked up a lot of points, scoring a total of 12 goals and 64 points in 67 games. Andersson has tremendous offensive upside, although his defensive game will need some work.
Two picks later, we picked
Gabriel Gagné - a huge 6'5 right winger who needs to fill out his frame. He scored 35 goals in the Q last season and he has all the tools to develop into a solid forward at the NHL level. Can also play as a center.
We debated drafting Finnish pivot
Julius Nättinen at 64, so we were very happy when he was still available eight picks later. Nättinen already possesses good size and projects to become a solid two-way center. He was one of the best scorers in the Mestis league last season and will probably suit up full-time for JYP in the Finnish top league next season.
Next up, we chose a left wingerfrom the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Ryan Gropp surely benefited from playing with Mathew Barzal, but with 30 goals he was by far the best goal scorer of the team. Gropp will need some time to take his game to the next level, but the talent is there.
We then traded down from 80 to get another pick in this draft. At 94, we selected
Anthony Cirelli who helped the Oshawa Generals win the Memorial Cup by scoring both goals in the 2-1 overtime win in the tournament's final. A bit buried on a stacked Generals team, Cirelli should play a bigger role next season.
One pick later, we upped our quota of Calgary Hitmen prospects by selecting Russian center in
Pavel Karnaukhov. We maybe reached a bit here, but at that point in the draft we felt we could take a risk. Karnaukhov had a solid first season in the WHL and we'll see if he can build on that.
And finally, we added another defenseman late in the draft by drafting
Caleb Jones, the younger brother of Predators star defenseman Seth Jones. Caleb is obviously not as talented as Seth, but he is still a solid two-way defenseman with some upside. After playing in the USHL last year, Jones will now make the switch to the WHL and play for the Winterhawks.
The Leafs also own the rights to
Andrew Mangiapane and
Jake Jaremko. Mangiapane was among the top goal scorers in the OHL last season with 43 goals and projects to be a middle-round pick in the draft. Jaremko was a high school star who has now made the transition to the USHL, and we hope that he'll be selected next week too.
Thanks to the league for another great draft!
Leafs Draft Review
