Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 2024 Draft Recap

Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 2024 Draft Recap

well the Toronto Maple Leafs certainly have access to stuff that a lot of us don’t because it was a little strange the players that they picked but let’s get into it so the Toronto Maple Leafs have been a team that goes against a lot of convention with a lot of their draft picks but in retrospect often doesn’t look that bad when they do so but I do think they went in a little bit of a more NHL conventional route looking at Ben Danford with the 31st overall pick now I had Danford a little bit lower towards the beginning of the third round but that’s only because players like Ben Danford are just not a huge priority for me in the NHL draft I think Ben Danford projects pretty easily and simply to be a third pair defenseman that is good at what he does eats minutes can kill penalties and move the puck better than you would think for a player with his stature I think he’s a pretty well-rounded defenseman and there were moments where I had him pretty high in my second round I just wonder about just how much he’s going to bring at higher levels outside of just a safe Dependable physical defenseman that can play the physical style of play but in a very effective way I didn’t mind this pick a 31st overall though because I honestly don’t mind a team strategy in that range being let’s get a guy who can play in our lineup and play pretty well even if he’s not the highest upside guy and I think that might be Ben Danford I expect him to take a step forward offensively this season and I think there could be an interesting selection here for Toronto at 120th the Toronto AP beliefs went totally off the board and drafted Victor Johansson a defenseman from lexand Brother of Detroit draft pick Anton now I went and watched him and I kind of liked what I saw he’s a decent skater he’s got really good skill for a guy that skates like him he is about as thin as a paperclip and I think there’s a lot of physical development on the way but similar things were said about his brother when Detroit drafted him and he’s become a solid defensive player in the shl since then I think this is an upside bet long term that he’s going to end up something like a solid third pair guy maybe but I do think that this is going to be an interesting one for Relief fans to monitor in the next few years would I have drafted him probably not I thought there were some better players available but it’s an interesting swing to take that could develop into a a decent player in the future based on what I saw then Toronto had two back-to-back picks at 151 and 152 with the first they went in the thund Direction with Miroslav hinka this was a player who was on my watch list after seeing him at an International Tournament in the midseason and when I took a closer look I saw just a player who was a lot of fun he has a lot of skill in the game and he isn’t a small player either and I do think that in the Czech pro league games that I saw there were some interesting moments and the skill is certainly there and there’s a pattern here skill skill skill skill skill and people even noticed this at the Leaf’s recent development Camp over the last month is there much around all of that that I think is going to develop him into a potential steal not really right now but there could be it’s possible this is a pick that I think has really high upside and a really low floor and in this range that’s kind of what you want halinka is definitely one of the more fun players that didn’t end up on my list at the end of the year so at this range I thought it was an interesting selection that was pleasantly surprising at 152nd overall Toronto drafted tall lanky forward Alexander plovi from Mamon yugu in the Russian Eastern Division of their Junior League this team was great this season in a pretty soft level of competition plovi didn’t really stand out to me all that much but he is tall and has some skill and a pretty good shot on him as well I do wonder about the pace of his game I’d like to see more intensity and he does need to fill out physically but he’s big and brings some interesting tools to the game at this range I think there were other names I would have gone after but again thinking long-term development there could be something here I suppose and you can leave him in Russia for quite a few years and the Maman ugri progam is pretty decent when you scale up to the KHL shortly after that at 157th the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted another Russian but a goenda team in Moscow and teimo oinv now I heard a little bit about oinv from people I know in the sport towards the end of the season and I went and watched him and I actually really like this guy in terms of athleticism and just overall smarts in net OB vinv brings a lot to the table again I’m not a golender but he is a player that I did think about putting on my goal tending list at the end of the year but I just hadn’t seen enough to really know that I should do that but people do seem to like this kid and I’m not surprised that a team like Toronto is taking a swing on him the deeper analytics I pulled on him were pretty good and what I saw of oinv was pretty solid as well and their track record with goenda seventh round draft picks Toronto drafted Matt Ley now Ley is pretty young played in the bchl for the Nimo Clippers and I went and watched him and N I don’t know he’s got some range to him he’s a decent skater got a decent shot shot on him as well I just didn’t see anything that really moved the needle a tremendous amount for me but you can leave him in college for a while and it was 200th overall at 216th they drafted one of the older firsttime eligibles in the draft in Sam mchue of the Owens sound attack now I went and watched him cuz I hadn’t seen him before the draft and again I mean if he turns out to be a thing fine he’s big he’s powerful got some shot quality on him as well but I wasn’t really Blown Away with his game to be perfectly honest and I think he’s an okay hockey player at the junior level we’ll see where he goes in the next season or two but I just think this is a bit of a long shot and I probably would have gone in a different direction if I were Toronto then at 225th they drafted Nathan Mae and I was seated in the audience with someone who works a lot in the WHL and I had never heard of Maize and I asked him about him and he kind of leaned back and said huh nice to see him drafted he’s not going to play but it’s nice to see him drafted and I think after watching him that’s also something I came away thinking as well again a younger player for the draft class I found him to be a decent skater got around the ice okay as well which was a bit of a pattern for these types of players that Toronto drafted on the back end this year but I just don’t think he really brought a whole lot of oomph to the game but I did not mind what I saw out of maize again any last pick overall in the draft is a long shot likely and I would have gone in a different direction here based on some of the guys that went undrafted but you know he’s not awful we’ll see where he goes from here and there were some interesting moments I saw especially with regards to his feet and using a bit of skill and putting pucks on net that might be worth betting on so that’s it for the Toronto map beliefs and I am going to give them a 2d in line with about the adminon Oilers now the Oilers drafted Sam O’Reilly Toronto drafted Ben Danford I think those two things are relatively comparable even though those two guys play very different positions I think they both kind of slot in at the bottom end of your lineup but do so well and in a way that you do need outside of that Toronto just kind of swung on guys that might develop into better hockey players than they already are I didn’t mind Johansen but you’re betting on physical development I liked Miroslav hinka for the skill level he has but he really needs to refine his game and build other areas Alexander plovsky there were some interesting tools there and some okay Pace in his game but I just didn’t really see a whole lot that was really rounding things out there either and beyond that I did like the pick of timoo vinv as a goendale that you could work with and maybe they become something in college in the future but I’m not holding my breath so that’s it for Toronto and if you liked it you can check the description box for a fanatic’s affiliate code which will give us a small Kickback on anything you buy in the store or you could get subscription to scouching doca where you can get access to an exclusive Discord server data tables for both drafted and undrafted players out there in the world as well as live access to my rankings and plenty of other goodies you can check out at scouching doca so that’s it for Toronto in the next one we’re going to be going up the 401 highway and looking at the Ottawa [Music] Senators for [Music]

In this NHL Draft recap, Will Scouch breaks down the crop of prospects the Toronto Maple Leafs added in 2024 NHL Draft.

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