{"id":514775,"date":"2026-03-21T11:03:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/514775\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:03:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:03:21","slug":"the-specific-record-the-maple-leafs-must-maintain-to-keep-their-2026-draft-pick-from-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/514775\/","title":{"rendered":"The specific record the Maple Leafs must maintain to keep their 2026 draft pick from Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Toronto <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs have backed themselves into a corner with only one way out – to lose. They need to make sure they have the best chances at a top-five pick, and need to finish with an unsightly record in order to do so.<\/p>\n

Well, they haven’t been losing enough to justify that trade and are risking their draft odds each game that passes. With a fairly easy slate of games ahead of them as well, there’s a strong chance they play too much for their pride and end up ruining things.<\/p>\n

Why going 3-10-0 is Toronto’s best bet at keeping their draft pick<\/p>\n

So in order to do the opposite and secure the best odds of a pick, they need to lose over 80% of their games.<\/p>\n

If Toronto were to go 3-10-0 over their next dozen games, they would be able to secure themselves a maximum of 76 points. That would put them historically in the bottom-five as it pertains to the last few seasons, and allow them the best chance of keeping their pick.<\/p>\n

They also can’t be the team who decides to play with fire and comeback to tie games either. If Toronto is getting beaten up, they need to kind of just accept their fate.<\/p>\n

That means that they have to put in weak efforts against the likes of the Rangers and Blues; not easy tasks especially with this newfound fire they’ve been playing with. Toeing the line between playing for pride and losing for the future is one that Toronto has to learn to adapt to quickly.<\/p>\n

The Bruins Trap: Why Toronto can’t let rivalry supersede future hopes<\/p>\n

We all know that when both teams come together there is tension and fireworks but Toronto can’t let wanting to eek a win out against their heated rivals take over the chance for a future draft pick.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, nor does Toronto have a shot at making the 2026 iteration either. So there’s really no point in putting in an effort worthy of a win because it does nobody any good.<\/p>\n

If Toronto wants to set themselves up for a much better future, one that could include Gavin McKenna or Keaton Verhoeff, then losing against the Bruins is their best bet.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs’ smartest move right now isn’t a trade – it’s losing the right games. Boston knows it and Toronto needs to figure it out before it’s too late.<\/p>\n

Previously on Hockey Patrol<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

16 HOURS AGO|292 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

The specific record the Maple Leafs must maintain to keep their 2026 draft pick from Boston<\/p>\n

Should Toronto throw the game against Boston to secure their 2026 draft pick?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images The Toronto Maple Leafs have backed themselves into a corner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28189,95,766,5,2529,4,2968,31],"class_list":["post-514775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-2026-draft","tag-boston-bruins","tag-gavin-mckenna","tag-hockey","tag-keaton-verhoeff","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-standings","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116266835440715367","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}