Phil Kessel tallied his first goal as a Toronto Maple Leaf and third point in three games Saturday night in the Leafs’ 5-1 rout of the Detroit Red Wings. Kessel’s return from injury marks the true beginning of Brian Burke’s reign as the team’s general manager. The trade for Kessel was clearly Burke’s biggest splash of the summer, and a statement to Leafs’ fans that he is not willing to wait to contend.
While Burke has faced some criticism for his willingness to part with two first round draft pick, Phil Kessel is a much better (not to mention younger) player than those the Leafs have acquired under similar terms in years past (see Owen Nolan below). The Leafs hope that Kessel is the bonafide scorer that they’ve been missing since Mats Sundin’s departure, and if that’s the case – the two first round picks were well worth it.
However, with 1967 a distant memory for some and a story only heard by others, Leafs fans are growing impatient with the team’s inability to improve through the draft. Toronto’s management has clearly struggled to identify players that could translate success in the amateur ranks to success on hockey’s biggest stage.
Management couldn’t pay Raycroft to stay awake, but they were okay with giving away Tuukka Rask to get him.
Let’s have a look back at the Leafs’ first round picks from 2001 to 2007 and see what they might have been in a best-case scenario.
2001 Draft:
The Leafs selected Carlo Colaiacovo 17th overall. Injury prone, Carlo has 65 points (33 with the Leafs) in only 183 games played in the NHL.
Who the Leafs passed on:
Derek Roy (279 points, 254 career games)
Mike Cammalleri (287 points, 364 career games, ranked #7 in points per minute in 2009)
2002 Draft
The Leafs selected Alexander Steen 24th overall. Steen has managed only 150 points in 314 games in the NHL. He was eventually traded along with 2001 first rounder Carlo Colaiacovo for Lee Stempniak in 2008. While Lee Stempniak is an above average NHL forward, he’s hardly worth two first round draft picks.
Who the Leafs passed on:
Cam Ward (Stanley Cup MVP in 2005)
2003 Draft
In a push for the Stanley Cup, the Leafs traded their 2003 first round pick to the San Jose Sharks along with Alyn McCauley and Brad Boyes for Owen Nolan. Nolan played only 86 games with the Leafs, averaging well under a point per game. The Sharks selected Mark-Antoine Pouliot 21st overall (passing on several impact players) and since the trade, Brad Boyes has blossomed into a point a game player.
Who the Sharks passed on (with Toronto’s pick):
Mike Richards (80 points in 79 games in 2008)
Corry Perry (19 points in 15 games this season)
Ryan Kesler (16 points in 18 games this season)
In hindsight, this may go down as one of the worst trades in franchise history. In a worst-case scenario for the Leafs, they dealt Alyn Mccauley, Brad Boyes and Mike Richards for 86 games of service from a player already well into, if not past his prime.
2004 Draft
Again in hopes of contending for the Stanley Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs sent a first round pick to the New York Rangers (later traded to Calgary) for the expiring contract of Brian Leetch. Leetch played 23 total games with the Leafs (aided by the lockout). Even more disturbing is the 24th overall pick that was eventually made by the Calgary Flames. The Flames selected Kris Chucko (28 goals in the AHL last season), but also passed on a number of players that have already blossomed in the NHL.
Who the Flames passed on (with Toronto’s pick):
Mike Green (144 points, 242 career games as a defenseman)
Johan Franzen (34 goals in 2008)
2005 Draft
Toronto selected Tuukka Rask 21st overall in 2005. Before he had played a game in North America, they traded Rask to the Boston Bruins for Andrew Raycroft. Raycroft, the current backup for the Vancouver Canucks was quickly chased out of Toronto with a save percentage of well under .900 over two seasons with the club.
Tukka Rask vs. Justin Pogge:
In five games with the Boston Bruins this season, Rask is 3-1-1 with a 2.33 goals against average and a save percentage of .920.
Rask was considered expendable because the Leafs also had World Junior standout Justin Pogge waiting for his shot at the NHL. Pogge; however, was never able to duplicate the success he had in the junior ranks and was released in 2008 in favour of Jonas Gustavsson.
2006 Draft
The Maple Leafs selected Jiri Tlusty 13th overall. Tlutsy is still young and has had success in the AHL, but critics suggest his skating may not be strong enough to be a star in the NHL. In 72 career games with the Leafs, Tlutsy has managed just 20 points.
Who the Leafs passed on:
Patrik Berglund (47 points, 21 goals in 76 career games)
Milan Lucic (69 points, 225 PIM, 149 games)
2007 Draft
The Toronto Maple Leafs pick was traded to the San Jose Sharks for Vesa Toskala. Toskala is the team’s current backup. The San Jose Sharks selected Logan Couture with the Leafs’ 9th overall pick in the draft. Couture has tallied 10 points in 7 games to start the 2009 campaign with the Worcester Sharks of the AHL and has since been called up to the big club.
Final Results
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and it would be unreasonable to expect that the Leafs’ upper management would make all of their draft-day decisions as suggested above.W hat if these were the decisions they had made? Here’s my projected 2009-2010 line-up if all had gone right for the Toronto Maple Leafs:
Forward Line One: Phil Kessel, Mike Richards, Jason Blake
Forward Line Two: Nik Hagman, Mike Cammalleri, Milan Lucic
Forward Line Three: Alexi Ponikarovsky, Brad Boyes, Nikolai Kulemin
Forward Line Four: Viktor Stalberg, John Mitchell, Colton Orr
Top Seven Defensemen: Mike Green, Thomas Kaberle, Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Luke Schenn, Ian White, Jeff Finger
Goalies: Cam Ward, Jonas Gusstavson
The ugly truth is that good teams also attract better players. If the Maple Leafs were contending for a Stanley Cup, would Mats Sundin have retired as early as he did? Would the Leafs have needed to sign Jeff Finger to a salary well above his talent level? With a contending team, not only would they be attracting players to the city, they would be luring them in at a bargain.
In a perfect world, Mats Sundin would still be a Toronto Maple Leaf and he’d still be on the hunt for a Stanley Cup ring. Who knows, in a perfect world he might even already have one.
Top Cheese 
[…] Maple Leafs – 2010 NHL Entry Draft Last week I discussed a ‘hypothetical lineup’ if the Leafs management had made smarter player personnel decisions between 2001 and 2007. Now, […]