Edited Mar. 2 at 1:46 p.m.. Reason: A few grammatical errors were fixed for clarity
Quoting: CameronSquires
The Leafs currently have 8 picks in the 23-24 draft,
Breakdown as follows:
1st Round
3rd Round (NYI)
4th Round
5th Round
5th Round (VAN)
5th Round (CHI) *Worst of their 5th rounders*
7th Round
7th Round (OTT)
(2nd was traded last season in the ROR / Acciari deal, 3rd was traded in 21-22 TDL in the Giordano & Blackwell trade, 6th was traded last night for retention on Lyubushkin.)
(The 3rd from NYI was received last TDL for Engvall, the 5th from CHI was a part of last years McCabe/Lafferty Deal, the 5th from VAN is from the Lafferty trade at the beginning of the season, and the 7th from OTT is from summer '22 when the leafs traded for Murray.)
Positional Needs Breakdown Ranking:
1. RD - With just Niemela and Villeneuve, the Leafs have a very small pool of RD prospects, this needs to be addressed, although they are both decent prospects with Niemela being TOR's current best defensive prospect.
2. LD - A bit bigger with the likes of Chadwick, Rifai, Kokkonen, Fusco and Koster, but leaves much to be desired as I only feel Chadwick here has a shot rn to become a full time NHLer someday.
3. LW - Bobylev, Lisowsky, Hirvonen, Voit, Abruzzese and Steeves (Omitting Knies due to NHL experience). Aside from Steeves who has looked okay in a few NHL games, most of these are long shots at best (High hopes for Lisowsky from me), no real guarenteed NHLers here.
4. RW - Tverberg, Ellis, Miettinen, Kizimov, Moldenhauer, Grebyonkin and Slepets. Grebyonkin looks like he has a decent chance of making the NHL, winning KHL's rookie of the year last year. Moldenhauer is a nice prospect to keep your eye on in the next few seasons, and Tverberg has been sneakily good with the Marlies. As I was making this, Slepets' rights have been traded to the Leafs, not an earth shattering player right now, but will be cool to see how he can progress nonetheless.
5. G - Omitting Woll (for same reason as Knies), the leafs have Hildeby, Peksa, Akhtyamov, and Petruzzelli. I think at his large stature and decent play, Hildeby will play in NHL games for sure. Peksa has taken a bit of a step back, posting a .898 in the ECHL with the Growlers, Akhtyamov has been above .920 in both the VHL and KHL, Petruzzelli is ok for a EBUG, but don't expect much. I think they're doing decent on G for now.
6. C - C is where the Leafs have by far the most talent, the main two being Cowan and Minten, Cowan is currently on the longest point streak in London Knights history, putting up an incredible OHL season so far, and Minten has gotten into a few NHL games already at the start of the year while also being Canada's Captain in the WJC. Aside from them, the Leafs have Ovchinnikov, Kressler, Chebykin, Der-Arguchintsev, Kara, Malinoski, Miller & Schingoethe. Of these, Ovchinnikov and miller are the ones I'd watch right now. Ovchinnikov is doing decent in AHL and Miller has been almost a PPG with Harvard, while Kara and Chebykin are most likely not going to see the NHL IMO.
Draft targets to follow.
Its a real shame Yakemchuk has surged up the rankings as of late, he was a guy I thought the Leafs had a chance of getting. Kiviharju is my personal favourite prospects in this years draft, feels like he could fall due to his prolonged absence to start the year after getting injured. Also missed the WJC which is a big factor. Im not convinced the Leafs will pick him just based on what we need, but I really like the guy and will always be cheering for him. I think the Leafs want a big bodied defenseman. This years draft class has so many fantastic defensemen, it's actually crazy. Its a real shame we wont get any of the uber elite guys like Dickinson, Parekh, Buium, Silayev, or Levshunov.
The one guy I really really like as a target for us that I'm pretty confident will be available to us is Anthony Cristoforo. If we trade back from the mid 20s to the early second to pick up an additional 3rd or something I would be very happy. I could definitely see a trade with Chicago materializing, they have quite a few 2nds. Cristoforo projects to be a mid to late 2nd round selection with some draft boards even pitting him in the third round. He could give us some real good value that late. Trading back to pick up Melvin Fernstrom and Fransen (or Cristoforo if one isnt available) would be a SAVVY piece of work
Some of the guys I like that should be available in our pick range are:
1. Jesse Pulkkinen
2. Beckett Sennecke
3. Terik Parascak
4. Henry Mews
5. Aaron Kiviharju
Fingers are crossed that Adam Jiricek falls to us, but that seems super unlikely. I think if we are looking for a defenseman in the later half of the draft, Cristoforo is a pretty sure-fire selection to fall back on. Just so solid at everything and is a real stout defensive presence. Connor Punnett is an over-ager who could go undrafted, in which case I would pursue him heavily. I think using one of our later picks in the 5th round (or more ideally one of our 7th rounders) to pick him up would be fantastic, he is EXACTLY what we need. Harrison Brunicke is another defenseman whose ranking is all over the place, but could be a solid pickup.
For the later rounds, I think guys like Sam O'Reilly, Anthony Romani, Alexandre Blais, Clarke Caswell, Marek Danicek, Melvin Fernstrom (👀), Noel Fransen (👀), and David Green (👀) would be excellent pick ups. If this is the draft class we walk away with, I will be extremely happy (of course this is assuming we don't trade back or anything)
1st Round (~24): Jesse Pulkkinen
- Smart, mobile, and high upside LD. One of my personal favourite prospects in this draft. Could be a slight reach at this stage in the draft (if possible, a trade back would be nice), but Im also just fine with reaching on a 6'6 defenseman who is as good as Pulkkinen.
(HM: Adam Jiricek*, Michael Branstedt Nygaard*, Aaron Kiviharju, Ryder Ritchie, Beckett Sennecke)
3rd Round (~80): Noel Fransen (👀)
- Super super super underrated prospect. The way this kid moves, his shooting ability, his intellect, his passing. He does so much right that I could genuinely see him going well before this pick. Maybe his lack of physicality will make other teams shy away, but this kid is elite. There are no glaring issues with this guy. Will likely be one of the bigger steals this season
(HM: Sam O'Reilly*, Anthony Cristoforo, Anthony Romani)
4th Round (~121): Melvin Fernstrom (👀)
- Fernstrom's ranking is generally significantly higher than where I have him, but he has notably been left off of McKenzie's rankings which could mean he is available at this stage in the draft. This kid is absolutely lighting it up and would be a stellar pickup, especially at this point. He's just so good.
(HM: William Zellers, Colin Ralph, Matyas Melovsky)
5th Round (~142): Aidan Park
- Relentless center who has produced well, albeit in a weaker league. His tenacity and two way ability are really the staples of his game
(HM: Clarke Caswell*)
5th Round (~153): Ondrej Becher
- Overager, but really impressed me at the World Juniors. Good frame and has pieced together a very solid WHL season thus far. Looks very good off of the puck and his defensive game has improved noticeably this season for Prince George.
5th Round (~158): Pavel Moysevich
- Huge Belarusian goalie with frankly incredible stats throughout his career. He is a slight over ager and has a contract that runs through 2026/27 (which is likely why he falls this far), but he is worth the wait IMO. So much potential here, and never hurts to draft a goalie
7th Round (~199): Connor Punnett
- He is an overager, so it is difficult to gauge where he goes in the draft (assuming he gets selected at all), but seeing as though we have so many picks I would really like to see us take Punnett rather than risking it on the UDFA market. Punnett is a bone crushing LD who has an absolute cannon of a shot. He brings everything our prospect pool needs and is closer to NHL ready given his maturity. Offensive production has taken a good step this season which is a nice bonus
7th Round (~217): David Green
- Has absolutely crushed his minutes in the OJHL as the Buzzer's #1 defenseman. Local kid with a good frame and very solid production. I really like the idea of taking a swing on him at this point in the draft, he deserves to be drafted much higher, but given the OJHL's reputation, he could fall. I would be more than happy to take him earlier than this for what it's worth.
(HM: Jack Sadowski)
* - Player could fall to our pick, but will likely be selected before ours
I think guys like Fernstrom, Fransen, and Green will be excellent value in those later rounds, granted I think Fernstrom will almost certainly be gone long before our pick (I just couldn't come up with a more realistic target for that stage in the draft). David Green in particular is a guy I really like and think we could get in the later stages. The sheer volume of picks we have and the depth of this draft could mean that we have a stellar draft. I have full faith in Wes Clark, so excited to see what he cooks up and what players fall.