Maple Leafs' head scout Mark Leach hopes to find late gem at NHL draft

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In 1969, at the first universal draft, the Philadelphia Flyers picked bruising Don Saleski 64th, who made the NHL in two years and won two Stanley Cups.

Such home runs at that particular position have been very hard to come by since. And in today’s well-researched 32-team league, Mark Leach and the Maple Leafs amateur scouts know the youngster they select Saturday at 64 will be a long-term project.

“When you get down to that (late second round), these players take a little longer to develop,” Leach said Thursday at his pre-draft media availability. “It’s a bit more than a straight line to get from A to B. You just be patient and see where they are in a few years. Most of these kids are three to five years away. They have some little issues in their game or they’d be top 10. But they all have talent.”

In the 10 drafts since the 1990s where Toronto didn’t have a first rounder, it often interviewed the best prospects anyway for intel purposes. Leach told his regional scouts during the season to talk to those blue chippers, including their coaches and trainers, choosing to use 1-on-1’s at this month’s combine in Buffalo to meet more kids who’d be on the Leaf radar this year.

“We dig into personality and background checks. It’s very important what their family upbringing is, where they come from.”

Leach and general manager Brad Treliving will work out of the Ford Performance Centre for Friday’s first round and Saturday’s conclusion, as all teams are homebound in this decentralized draft. About 100 of the top prospects will be at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and VIPs for a TV special.

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This is Leach’s first draft running the Leafs table, but he did very well in Detroit under general manager Jim Nill and followed him to Dallas. Many of the Stars’ stars, including Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger, were Leach’s calls.

Leach has to be ready if Treliving trades back into the first round (Chicago owns the Leaf pick at 25 from the Jake McCabe deal) or as Treliving indicated Thursday, Toronto might get multiple picks from moving down.

Treliving acknowledged this will feel like the virtual drafts of 2020 and ‘21 when Covid shut down travel.

“You’re missing the personal contact where you could walk up and down the tables and talk to guys,’ Treliving said of conducting business such as trades. “But we’ve got phones. I don’t anticipate it being a problem.”

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby