Toronto Maple Leafs: 10 Best Draft Picks of the Last Decade

Trying to decide which player to draft is one of the toughest decisions in hockey for a general manager. What you’re doing here is basically trying to take out a crystal ball and predict a person’s future.

Is that player talented enough? Is he strong enough? Does he have a high hockey IQ? Does he have a strong work ethic? Is he susceptible to injuries? Does his playing style fit in with the rest of the team? Does he have a good personality? Does he have leadership skills?

A GM, along with his scouting staff and other executives, needs to correctly answer these questions and more in order to make sure that the right decision is made on draft day.

In the pre-lockout NHL there was no salary cap and the Toronto Maple Leafs, being the richest team in hockey, were able to use their riches to attract players.  They could afford to make mistakes in the draft since they could simply sign veterans to fill the necessary holes.

This is no longer the case in the new NHL.

Teams can’t just go on a free agent spending spree anymore. They need to combine calculated free agent signings with cleverly drafting players that will either contribute to the team eventually or can either be traded for immediate help.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 Leafs draft picks since 2001. If you disagree with the picks or the order in which they’ve been placed, feel free to say why in the comments section.

10. Ian White

Ian White has become quite the journeyman, playing with four different teams in the past three years.

The small defenseman was selected in the sixth round, 191st overall in the 2002 entry draft. White had a great start to his NHL career, bagging five points in his first five games toward the end of the 2005-2006 season and 26 points the next year in his first full NHL campaign.

After five years with the Leafs, White was traded to the Calgary Flames as part of the Dion Phaneuf deal.

This season, White has seven points in 15 games but recently suffered an injury after working the top line power play alongside future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom.

9. Luke Schenn

When he was drafted fifth overall in the 2008 entry draft, Luke Schenn was touted as a possible future captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had recently let Mats Sundin leave for free agency.

He has not turned into a player of that calibre but still has upside.

After a remarkable season for Schenn defensively last year, he was rewarded with a five-year, $18 million dollar contract. Unfortunately, Schenn has not been the same player this year and has made some particularly bad defensive mistakes.

Schenn needs to improve if wants to stick around in this league after his big contract is finished. Being only 22 years old, he still has time to mature.

8. Nazem Kadri

In the 2010 World Junior Championship, Nazem Kadri centred a line with future Edmonton Oilers Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall and did not disappoint, as he scored three goals and five assists in six games.

Selected seventh overall in the 2009 entry draft, Kadri has struggled thus far to maintain a spot in the lineup, moving back and forth between the Marlies and Leafs over the past two seasons.

Still, Kadri has the tools to be a top-six forward but needs to show them consistently. With the rash of injuries that has hit the Leafs recently, Kadri has yet another chance to show Brian Burke and Ron Wilson that he deserves a permanent spot with the big club.

7. Viktor Stalberg

Viktor Stalberg was selected in the sixth round, 161st overall in the 2006 entry draft. Known primarily for his quick speed, the Swedish winger was part of the “frat pack” line that included Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson.

In 40 games with the Leafs, Stalberg scored nine goals to go along with five assists. At times he showed flashes of greatness, but was not consistent.

He was eventually traded to Chicago in the Kris Versteeg deal, where he has been more productive with eight points in 15 games thus far this year.

Playing on Chicago’s top line and power play unit has certainly helped.

6. Carlo Colaiacovo

Carlo Colaiacovo was drafted 17^th overall in the 2001 entry draft and came with a reputation as a hard-hitting, offensive defenseman.

He never became any of those things with the Leafs, as injuries kept him out of the lineup each year. His healthiest campaign with Toronto was in the 2006-2007 season, as he played 48 games.

He eventually was traded in November 2008 to the St. Louis Blues, where he has had quite a renaissance.

Colaiacovo still has not managed to stay healthy for a full season, but has not played less than 60 games and scored over 25 points in the past three seasons. 

5. Nikolai Kulemin

After a great season last year, Nikolai Kulemin has been snake bitten so far this season, with only two goals scored in 18 games.

Last year, Kulemin became the first Russian player since Alexander Mogilny to score 30 goals in a season for the Leafs.

Drafted in the second round (44th overall), Kulemin has scored at least 15 goals in every season played with the Leafs.

He’ll find his scoring touch eventually, but whether he can duplicate last year’s success remains to be seen. It’s more likely that he’ll score somewhere around 20-24 goals, which is a decent output for a second round pick.

4. Carl Gunnarsson

In a previous article ranking the Leafs’ defensemen, I criticized Carl Gunnarsson for looking nervous at times, leading to errant passes and poor defensive play.

He has since proven me wrong. He has settled down and is starting to look like a very impressive defenseman.

While Gunnarsson is not going to win any “world’s toughest defenseman” awards any time soon, a quick look at his numbers shows that he is incredibly consistent offensively, averaging around 0.33 points per game each year.

He is currently on pace to score 27 points, which would be his best total thus far. Not bad at all for a player drafted in the seventh round (194th overall, 2007). Has he reached his ceiling?

3. James Reimer

John Ferguson Jr. made some stupid mistakes during his time in Toronto (for example, the final two slides of this article) but it seems that he got this one right. Not too many people remember that it was JFJ who drafted James Reimer in 2006 (fourth round, 99th overall).

Reimer was sensational last year for the Leafs, stealing the starting goalie slot from under both Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson’s feet.

Not only does Optimus Reim make great saves on a regular basis, he also reduces the heart rate of Leafs fans who have had to deal with goalies like Vesa Toskala and Andrew Raycroft (more on him later) during the past few years.

His latest injury is an obvious concern, but he has gone through similar injuries before and has still managed to be solid in net afterwards.

2. Alexander Steen

The son of Winnipeg Jets hero (and Winnipeg city councillor) Thomas Steen, Alex broke into the NHL with high expectations. Selected 24th overall in 2002, Steen played in the Swedish Elite League until 2005, when he was finally given the chance to play with the Leafs.

He scored 18 goals and 27 assists in his rookie season, which would have looked much more impressive if not for the fact that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin broke out into the league in the same year and attracted most of the attention.

Steen has turned into a reliable forward since he was traded to the St. Louis Blues and is having a great year so far by his standards, with 11 points in 17 games.

1. Tuukka Rask

The top player on this list is the one that got away.

In what was one of the most foolish decisions ever made by John Ferguson Jr. during his time as GM of the Leafs, Tuukka Rask was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Andrew Raycroft.

Andrew Raycroft has since left the Leafs and has an 0-3 record as a backup goalie for the Dallas Stars. Although he did not play any games in the playoffs, Tuukka Rask provided relief for Tim Thomas during the regular season (starting 29 games) and has a Stanley Cup ring.

With Reimer out for an indefinite period of time, having Rask to provide solid goaltending in the interim would be great right now.

He will eventually get an opportunity to become a full-time starter in the NHL—he certainly deserves the shot. But for now he’ll have to settle for playing with the Stanley Cup Champions.