Depth in picks won't necessarily turn into draft gold for Maple Leafs
Dig into that draft depth, Maple Leafs.
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Currently with no selection in the 2025 National Hockey League draft until the last pick of the second round, Leafs amateur scouting director Mark Leach and his staff will have to bide their time next weekend.
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Barring trades by general manager Brad Treliving, the Leafs are about to embark on a run of three consecutive drafts without a first-round choice. Consider that since 2011, there have been only three drafts that the Leafs didn't announce the name of a prospect in the first round.
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In 2022, Toronto picked Fraser Minten with their first selection at No. 38; in 2021, Matthew Knies was snagged at No. 57 and, in 2019, Nick Robertson was taken at No. 53.
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There might be a good prospect available when the Leafs make their first choice at No. 64. Whether they get it right, we're not going to know for several years.
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As for organizational needs, they're not really applicable without a first-round pick. Taking the best player available (as deemed by you and your staff) would be the most prudent route.
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With this in mind, we take a look forward and a glance back to see where the Leafs stand heading into the draft.
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The final order of the draft was set once the Stanley Cup final between the victorious Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers finished on Tuesday night.
The Leafs will have six picks: Nos. 64, 86 (third round), 137 and 153 (fifth round), 185 (sixth round) and 217 (seventh round).
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The Leafs have known for a while they weren't going to have a first-round pick this year, going back to the Kyle Dubas era.
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In February 2023, in the trade with the Chicago Blackhawks in which defenceman Jake McCabe was the centrepiece coming to Toronto, a conditional first-round pick in 2025 was sent to the Blackhawks. The pick was top-10 protected and when the Leafs qualified for the playoffs early in April, it became Chicago's selection. It's going to be the 25th pick overall.
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The choice at 64th came via the Panthers in a swap of picks between the teams last June.
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Originally, the Leafs would have had the 57th pick. Now owned by Seattle, the pick has changed teams several times since the Leafs traded a conditional pick to Arizona in February 2022 in a deal that brought defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto. The Coyotes had a choice between the Leafs' third-round pick in 2023 or the second-round pick in '25 and went with the latter before trading it (now in Utah) to Tampa Bay.
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The 86th pick was acquired in the trade last October that sent defenceman Timothy Liljegren to San Jose. The Leafs would have had the 89th pick, but traded it to Anaheim (which then sent it to the New York Rangers in the Chris Kreider trade last week) in a February 2024 swap for forward Kirill Slepets.
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