LEAFS NOTES: Toronto not feeling a first round draft as picking starts

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The Maple Leafs didn’t quench any thirst for a first in Friday night’s lengthy first round of the National Hockey League entry draft.

Having made their bed, trading the 25th pick to Chicago for Jake McCabe two years ago, they slept through the opening chapter versus trading up and will get to work Saturday morning. They’ll have six picks in the ensuing six rounds, starting at 64th overall.

General manager Brad Treliving was suggesting this week there was an equal chance the Leafs move further down the order, not higher, if another team liked a player at 64th and perhaps offers them two picks in return.

It’s not unheard of for Toronto to find a diamond in the rough at 64, with 1990s forward Frederik Modin and current defence prospect Topi Niemela, but any choices at that position are usually long-term projects.

“I’m just interested in the best available talent and the guy who competes and works hard,” amateur scouting director Mark Leach told reporters on Thursday of what he would seek at that spot.

TAVARES SEEING RED

When we asked newly re-signed John Tavares where his game is at in his mid-30s, he threw his name in the ring for another shot with Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

Tavares has played on various national sides in his career and it was a huge letdown for him not to be invited to the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. But it will have been 12 years since he won Olympic gold in 2014 at Sochi and this time he’d be nearing age 36.

“I really take a lot of pride in how I try to get better, approach the game and my craft,” he said. “There’s a tremendous amount of belief in who I am and what I can do.

“I have always stated my desire to give it every opportunity to play for Team Canada on the biggest stage at the biggest events. You hope you can earn that, There’s tremendous amount of belief I have to play at an elite level and continue to evolve.

“I understand I’m getting older, but I have tremendous people around me and tremendous (Leaf) resources.”

KIDS’ ROAD TRIP

Leafs rookie camp will once again be capped by a four-team mini-tournament in Montreal.

The Canadiens announced this week that their Prospect Showdown returns to the Bell Centre, Sept. 13-14. The best young Habs and Leafs will be joined by the Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets. Toronto plays the Sens at 1 p.m. on Sat. Sept. 13 and Montreal at 3 p.m. next day.

Tickets from $10 in the Bell Centre’s upper bowl to $25 in the lower tier go on general sale July 31. The Leafs will likely have a mini-camp at the Ford Centre preceding their trip.

Development camp with their 2025 picks, those of the past few years and guest free agents who were not drafted this weekend, will be held late next week.

BIG BEN TOLLS

Forwards Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten, Toronto’s two highest picks in 2022 and 2023, received plenty of coverage the past few years, Minten now Boston property in the Brandon Carlo trade.

For Oshawa Generals defenceman Ben Danford, 2024’s first rounder at 31st overall, it has been a different road. A training camp injury meant the 6-foot-2 Danford didn’t really get rolling until the end of the OHL season, his production numbers dropping a bit.

“Ben’s a real good player, has a really good skill set and is getting stronger every day,” said Leach. “He had a really good playoff run (21 games), he’s just a young man who needs time and maturity to play the pro game.

“It doesn’t happen overnight. You’re talking about a 19 or 20-year-old going up to play against men. He could take a year or two or three. We’ll see how it looks when we get there.”

Of course, every team craves a home-grown blueline giant.

“I do like size. Look at the playoffs,” Leach said. “(Cup-winning) Florida has a big team and you have two months of (playoff) grind. Size is a factor, but also if the kid has a big heart and a big compete level.”

WELCOME TO THE FISHBOWL

As for local prospects being negatively affected by developing in the much-discussed hockey media capital in Toronto, Leach just shrugged.

“Kids today are a lot more worldly than 20 years ago. They have youth hockey growing up and play all over the world. Toronto being a big market, it’s no different than New York, Detroit or Florida. There were 500,000 people at their (Panthers’) parade and they’re always under the gun (as defending champions).

‘The media, the way it is today, there’s pressure anywhere they play. I haven’t heard anything (negative about a player not wanting to be a Leaf draft). It’s Original Six and a lot of kids want to play for a team like that. There’s definitely something special about that.”

Lhornby@postmedia.com
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