Trading first-round picks yet to reverse the Maple Leafs' Stanley Cup curse

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They’re forever known as “the ones that got away” from the Maple Leafs.

There have been 10 drafts between 1991-2022 in which Toronto traded its first-round pick in search of help in regular season, playoffs or both, though it has yet to help end a 58-year Stanley Cup jinx.

Barring a reverse mortgage by Friday night, the Leafs again will sit out the opening round, its selection at 25th owned by the Chicago Blackhawks from 2023’s acquisition of defenceman Jake McCabe. Neither do the Leafs currently possess a first through 2027.

Per the chart below, they’ve had motive for trading the pick — and a few more in subsequent rounds. Such moves always carry a risk the traded choice ends up raising the Cup as happened again last week.

In other cases, the pick turned out a bust for the swap partner and Toronto came out ahead. Here are the yearly draft details, including the player Leafs eventually chose first.

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2022

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: 25th to Chicago, which selected 6-foot-4 defenceman Sam Rinzel. After leaving the University of Minnesota to join the Hawks last season, he had five assists in nine NHL games.

TRADE DETAILS: Leafs sent goalie Petr Mrazek and this pick to the Hawks for a second-rounder. GM Kyle Dubas was trying to undo an excessive three-year Mrazek contract, while the Hawks had cap room, a rebuild mindset and didn’t mind finishing low enough to win the Connor Bedard lottery in 2023.

NEXT LEAF UP: Toronto chose WHL centre Fraser Minten at 38th overall. He excelled in his first training camp, made the team and played a total of 19 games for Toronto, but was traded for defenceman Brandon Carlo at the past March deadline.

2021

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: 25th, Columbus selected defenceman Corson Ceulemans. The 6-foot-2 Alberta Jr. League prospect spent two years at the University of Wisconsin and has since played 80 games in the AHL for the Cleveland Monsters.

TRADE DETAILS: A three-way deal that involved the San Jose Sharks and also gave the Leafs temporary possession of Stefan Noesen, now an effective forward with New Jersey. But the excitement of landing the son of 1990s playoff hero Mike Foligno didn’t last long. Nick was injured after the deadline deal and played just four of seven playoff games against Montreal before signing with Boston the following season.

NEXT LEAF UP: The Foligno episode and the lost pick faded from memory when Matthew Knies was chosen 57th and jumped from the University of Minnesota within two years to become a first-line Leafs left winger.

2019

FIRST PICK DEPARTED; 22nd, Los Angles selected defenceman Tobias Bjornfot. You might have caught Bjornfot raising the Cup late in the Panthers’ celebration on Tuesday. The Swede played 100-plus games for the Kings, but slipped through both L.A. and the Vegas Golden Knights, being claimed by the Panthers just as playoffs started.

TRADE DETAILS: Dubas tried to get ahead of other teams’ deadline deals by obtaining Cup-champion defenceman Jake Muzzin from the Kings at midseason, though the price included this pick and second-rounders Sean Durzi and Carl Grundstrom. A neck-related injury ended Muzzin’s playing days prematurely, but he remains on the Leafs’ development staff.

NEXT LEAF UP: Enigmatic Nick Robertson was taken 53rd overall and has 59 points in 169 regular-season and playoff games to date. But the RFA’s future in Toronto is unclear.

2010

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: Second overall, Boston selected forward Tyler Seguin. Whether it was losing their Seguin ticket or Taylor Hall, who went first overall to Edmonton, the Leafs had some buyers’ remorse about the deal to land Phil Kessel. They’d struggle another few years to make the playoffs, while local lad Seguin won a Cup with the Bruins his first year and is coming up on 1,000 NHL games.

TRADE DETAILS: Kessel led the Leafs in scoring the next six years, but was ill-suited for the Toronto spotlight and a challenge for his coaches before being traded and winning two Cups with Pittsburgh. Toronto also sent its 2011 first-rounder to Boston in this deal, who turned into solid defenceman Dougie Hamilton. Leafs later recovered two top selections, though forward Tyler Biggs and defenceman Stu Percy didn’t blossom.

NEXT LEAF UP: WHL forward Brad Ross was chosen 43rd, splitting his time with the Marlies and ECHL Orlando. His notoriety included a 20-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

2007

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: Lars Eller, selected 13th overall by St. Louis. This ageless winger just came off another strong season in Washington, having spent almost his entire career in the Leafs’ face with Montreal, Pittsburgh and the Caps, where he and Alex Ovechkin shared the 2018 Cup.

TRADE DETAILS: GM John Ferguson had attempted to upgrade goaltending and toughness, acquiring Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell from San Jose, which flipped this pick to the Blues.

NEXT LEAF UP: Undersized Oshawa General forward Dale Mitchell went 74th, didn’t get past the Marlies, though had a prolific career in Denmark.

2004

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: 24th overall, winger Kris Chucko selected by the Calgary Flames. The B.C. native, via the University of Minnesota, played two NHL games before concussions cut short his career.

TRADE DETAILS: GM/coach Pat Quinn went on a deadline trading spree that included future Hall of Famers Brian Leetch for this pick and forward Ron Francis. Leetch enjoyed his brief Leafs time and considered re-signing, but after the lockout year chose to play in Boston.

NEXT LEAF UP: After their longest wait to date to make their first selection at a draft, the Leafs took WHL goalie Justin Pogge 90th. A couple of years later, in the belief they were set in net with Pogge and Andrew Raycroft, they dealt ‘05 first pick Tuukka Rask to Boston.

2003

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: Boston selected defenceman Mark Stuart 21st overall. The 6-foot-2 product of Colorado College put in close to 700 NHL games with the B’s, then came to Canada via the Atlanta Thrashers transfer to Winnipeg.

TRADE DETAILS: Quinn coveted physical former first-overall forward Owen Nolan from the Sharks, but had to give up this pick, plus popular Leafs centre Alyn McCauley and young Brad Boyes. Boston dealt with the Sharks to move into the first round.

NEXT LEAF UP: Massachusetts high schooler John Doherty didn’t get on the NHL radar at 57th and the Leafs missed out on the draft’s strong second round that year, which included Patrice Bergeron to Boston at 45th.

1997

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: Fourth overall, goalie Roberto Luongo, selected by the New York Islanders. His Hall of Fame career was later built in great seasons with Vancouver and Florida.

TRADE DETAILS: Higher-ups in Leafs ownership wanted GM Cliff Fletcher to bring back Wendel Clark after trading the one-time captain for Mats Sundin three years earlier. The expensive reunion also cost Toronto defenceman Kenny Jonsson, later an Isles’ captain.

NEXT LEAF UP: Boston College centre Jeff Farkas played eight games for Toronto, catching on with Atlanta for a bit before early retirement due to a spinal injury.

1996

FIRST PICK DEPARTED: It was 15th overall, centre Dainius Zubrus, selected by Philadelphia. The Flyers launched Zubrus to nearly 1,400 NHL games, the most of any first-rounder taken that year.

TRADE DETAILS: Toronto received rugged blueliner Dmitry Yushkevich and was quite happy with his long service, especially in the Quinn years.

NEXT LEAF UP: Lanky defenceman Marek Posmyk went 36th, the first time Toronto led a draft with a Czech. He was later part of the Darcy Tucker trade with Tampa Bay, where Posmyk played all his 19 NHL games.

1991

PICK DEPARTED: Defenceman Scott Niedermayer selected third overall by New Jersey. For a while it looked like the Devils might get the highly coveted Eric Lindros with Toronto’s ticket. Niedermayer made the Hall of Fame and won a couple of Cups.

TRADE DETAILS: The year before, Leafs GM Floyd Smith dealt the pick to the Devils to solidify the defence with veteran Tom Kurvers, but had to make more trades to ensure Toronto didn’t finish last in ‘91.

NEXT LEAF UP: Centre Yanic Perreault, 47th overall, was later involved in another Leafs draft mishap. To re-acquire him in 2007, Toronto sent a second rounder to Phoenix, which eventually became Nashville’s Norris Trophy-winning Roman Josi.

lhornby@postmedia.com

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