Maple Leafs scouting director will work through lack of picks in NHL draft

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Despite a dearth of draft picks, Mark Leach and his Maple Leafs scouting staff won’t be sitting around next week making paper airplanes out of scouting pages while waiting their turn to select.

With no first-rounder this year right up to 2027 and just six picks through the first four rounds until then, Leach and about a dozen field workers must still be on their toes.

General manager Brad Treliving’s aggressive trades for playoff help emptied the cupboard, but it could fill unexpectedly.

In his first draft as Toronto’s amateur scouting director, Leach could be sitting until as late as 64th overall before the Leafs’ first selection, if Florida wins the Stanley Cup and its pick that Toronto holds drops one spot to the bottom of Round 2. The Leafs also are without a fourth-rounder this year before getting two in the fifth.

“I’m used to it,” Leach told Postmedia prior to the June 27-28 draft. “Going back to my years in Dallas and Detroit, we often had (few high) picks, but you had to be prepared for anything.

“Brad might make a trade and we could go at anything from a first to a fourth. Our list are in order.”

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Leach agrees with the forecast that this year’s draft is not deep, but full of character players.

“Someone out of it will find a way to play or a late name will pop up. The tough part of course is that at age 17, not many have matured physically and mentally or might be unprepared for the development stage.

“I’ve seen better drafts, but the depth is there with players who can help out an organization. I’m all for getting the best available player and developing him, though sometimes when you go deeper, management wants a particular player and you grab him.”

This year’s draft presents other logistical hoops. It’s de-centralized with most teams staying in their home war rooms while the top prospects are at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

Many GMs are used to the traditional walking the draft floor with 32 team tables and NHL Central Scouting on hand or phoning another table, while others wanted their usual office resources close by, which led to this year’s format.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a challenge,” Leach said. “GMs will still be able to hook up and make a trade that feels right to them or to move up or down the draft. We can still call another team and (communications) people will be all set up for (multiple contact methods).

“We had to do much the same thing in the virtual COVID drafts (2020 and ‘21). We’ll get it done.”

Leach was hired by Treliving 11 months ago, replacing Wes Clark, who after six years in Toronto re-joined former GM Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh.

“That’s about how far Brad and I go back,” joked Leach, who is from Lexington, Mass., and comes by his New England accent honestly. “We only knew each other to shake hands on the draft floor. But he knew my brother Steve (a former NHLer) and we mentored with good people through the years.”

As the Calgary Flames GM, Treliving had taken note of Mark’s work with Detroit and Dallas under Jim Nill. Leach and Joe McDonnell influenced the Wings’ scouting success in the early 2000s and both followed Nill to the Stars. Leach is particularly proud of the haul his staff augmented Dallas with in recent years.

Two of those drafts stand out for Leach — 2021 with forwards Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven at 23rd and 47th, respectively, and 2017, two first-round home runs with defenceman Miro Heiskanen and goalie Jake Oettinger, followed by winger Jason Robertson in the third.

Leach also was good friends with the late Ray Shero, Cup-winning GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins and his teammate at St. Lawrence University in the early 1980s. They went to the same New Hampshire prep school and their kids played minor hockey against each other. Leach mourned his passing from cancer in April.

“Ray was a good hockey man, a good human and I really miss him at the rink.”

Leach convened two regular-season gatherings of his North American and European scouts in Toronto to target players, at mid-season and after the world under-18 championships.

“We’ll have one more meeting to tweak our list for Friday and Saturday.”

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby