Maple Leafs Draft Week Recap

The last week has proven to be a busy one for GM Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs, with the NHL Draft and making moves to move out and bringing players. There have been many questions surrounding some of the decisions made in the last week so let’s talk about them.

An NHL draft in Montreal seems like a dream to attend, with so much heritage in the Bell Centre it felt like the hockey gods were in attendance as well as the 32 NHL teams. It was a wild couple of hours in terms of trades and surprise selections, but the real action happened when the Maple Leafs made a move late in the 1st round.

Trades at the Draft:

Toronto Maple Leafs Receive: 38th Selection

Chicago Blackhawks Receive: Petr Mrazek, & 25th Selection

After the heated press conferences between Kyle Dubas and Kyle Davidson at the deadline, it felt strange to have them come together and get a deal down, especially one that helped the Maple Leafs. Toronto was able to move out all of the remaining 2 years of Mrazek’s contract at full value and it cost them 13 spots in the draft, moving them out of the 1st round into the early 2nd round where they were able to pick the player they wanted to take.

Toronto Maple Leafs Receive 3rd Rounder (95th Selection) & 5th Rounder (135th Selection)

Vegas Golden Knights Receive: 3rd Rounder (79th Selection)

Draft:

Round 2, Pick 38: Fraser Minten

Minten is a forward out of the WHL who plays for the Kamloops Blazers and has been described as a hockey genius. He could very well prove to be a 2nd round steal just like Matthew Knies was. The expectation is he will continue to develop with the Blazers of the WHL before coming into the Maple Leafs organization full-time.

Round 3, Pick 95: Nicholas Moldenhauer

Nicholas Moldenhauer is a Mississauga Ontario native, who players forward for the Chicago Steel out of the USHL. He is yet to commit to any NCAA team, so the expectation would be to return to the Steel and then make the jump to the Leaf’s organization.

Round 4, Pick 122: Dennis Hildeby

Hildeby is a big Swedish goaltender, he is 6’6” and 200 pounds, he has been described as a positionally sound goalie who has a ton of composure. He will continue to develop overseas with Färjestad BK of the SHL.

Round 5, Pick 135: Nikita Grebenkin

Grebenkin is a Russian winger, who has both speed and hands and with time could turn into a nice bottom-six forward for the Maple Leafs. Currently, he plays in the MHL for Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk but also spends time with their KHL club Metallurg, he will most likely continue there after signing a contract with the KHL for the next few years.

Round 7, Pick 218: Brandon Lisowsky

Lisowsky is another forward from the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL. He produced good numbers last season recording 58 points in 68 games. Lisowsky lacks size, only being 5’9” and 180 pounds but he still has a few years of development before he needs to worry about pro hockey.

Post Draft Movement:

Toronto Maple Leafs Receive: Matt Murray (25% retain), 2023 3rd Rounder, 2024 7th Rounder

Ottawa Senators Receive: Future Considerations

This trade left a lot of people confused, GM Kyle Dubas could be entering his last season at the helm of the Maple Leaf’s organization, and he is going to put his faith into Matt Murray over Jack Campbell or the list of goalies that are substantially better than Murray. On the 2nd day of the draft, two goalie trades included goalies that Toronto could have been in on for relatively cheap prices, Vitek Vanecek was traded to the New Jersey Devils from Washington in a pick swap, and Ville Husso was traded from St. Louis to the Detroit Red Wings for a 3rd round pick. Although Toronto did get picks back from Ottawa to take on Murray’s contract, it makes me wonder why they didn’t look at some other options besides a goalie with a Sault St. Marie Greyhounds connection. Toronto is in a ‘win now’ stage with potentially only two more years of Auston Matthews, and in those two years, it appears that Toronto will use a combination of Murray, Källgren/Woll and/or another that they can sign for cheap to be the backup such as, Eric Comrie. We hope that Murray can return to how he played with the Pittsburgh Penguins when he won two cups, but if recent history has told us anything, it is that he will most likely struggle with injuries, leaving Toronto to scramble to find another goalie by Christmas.

Qualifying Offers:

July 11th was the deadline for qualifying players on each NHL team, and some bigger name players around the NHL weren’t qualified which will make for a fun free agency day on July 13th. Toronto had six potential players that could receive a qualifying offer which then they can sign to another deal with the team, or the player can accept the qualifying offer. Toronto has extended an offer to both Pierre Engvall and Ramus Sandin which keeps them under Toronto’s control as an RFA. Engvall is expected to sign a contract extension in the coming weeks, however, Sandin has been deemed an offer sheet target from other teams, as it is reported he isn’t overly happy with the log jam on the back end. Joseph Duszak, Chad Krys, Kristian Rubīns, and Ian Scott were all left unqualified effectively making them UFA’s and eligible to sign with another team as of noon on July 13th.