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The Toronto Maple Leafs team and fans were relishing with anticipation for their first selection in the NHL Entry Draft. Who would Toronto take? Everyone in the league knew that Connor McDavid was going to go to the Edmonton Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres were going to acquire Jack Eichel. The third pick was property of the Arizona Coyotes and who they were going to acquire affected who Toronto would have to choose with the fourth pick.
Well, the man that fell to them was London Knights center Mitchell Marner from the Ontario Hockey League.
Trades will occur and the rebuild will begin under Leafs president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan and his partners Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter. The veteran talent can be traded and the nucleus shaken up. Some of the veterans on the team who could be moved are James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri and Joffrey Lupul. They are just a few of the players who could be wearing another NHL hockey jersey next fall.
Marner wore jersey No. 93 with the Knights. He was born on May 5, 1997 and as of June 26, 2015, he is a National Hockey League player for the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you look at the analytics of the player, Marner comes to Toronto after two successful seasons in the minors. In the 2013-14 campaign, he finished with 59 points in 64 games. Last season, he really took off with 126 points in 63 games — posting 44 goals and 82 assists.
If Toronto has him playing any games at the Air Canada Centre next fall, he will be compared to another beloved center in former Leafs captain Doug Gilmour.
The jury is still out on how exactly the offseason will unfold. Yes, they have new head coach in Mike Babcock. That’s the promising sign. However, they have no general manager at the helm.
The Leafs’ management has not always been smart with prospects. However, if they are smart, they should be playing their cards properly and have plans set and confirmed for a ticket to play with the Toronto Marlies next season.
All prospects tend to be rushed up to the Leafs’ big club. Look at their history over the past 40 years. Prospects come up and cannot maintain the skills necessary for the suffering fans of the blue and white. The Leafs would be wise to hold off on that trend, and let their No. 1 pick develop a bit before calling him up.
Sure, Leaf Nation was hoping to obtain McDavid. A secondary option would have been Dylan Strome, as he was a former teammate of McDavid with the Erie Otters.
The franchise has been the centerpiece of jokes of the other 29 teams’ fans. But for all the turmoil that hangs around the Stanley Cup-less team, this is an organization that has made a great first move in a long while and deserves to be praised.
