With many draft picks gone in trades, the Maple Leafs selected three players on the second day of the 2021 Entry Draft.
In the second round the Leafs selected Matthew Knies from the USHL. He played close to a full season this year, and is already committed to the University of Minnesota for the coming season.
Knies is from Arizona, is a tall left winger, and was taken about where he was expected to go in the draft.
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Toronto Maple Leafs Select Matthew Knies 57th Overall
In the fifth round, the Leafs took small winger Ty Voit, who is an American who played in the OHL in 2019-2020, and hasn’t played since. He’s a prime candidate to get in some time at the Traverse City tournament this year for the Leafs, ahead of his OHL season in Sarnia.
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Toronto Maple Leafs select Ty Voit 153rd overall in the 2021 Entry Draft
In the sixth round, the Leafs went off the board and took a player familiar largely to them, in goaltender Vyacheslav Peksa. No one knows much about him, so we’ll have to learn about him as his Russian season gets underway very soon.
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Toronto Maple Leafs select Vyacheslav Peksa 185th overall in the 2021 Entry Draft
Dubas predicts the rookie tournament in Traverse City, Mich., will see the Leafs try out a few young free agents not drafted today.
— Lance Hornby (@sunhornby) July 24, 2021
Next up for the Leafs is free agency:
Dubas talking about areas in the roster that needs to improve. Highlights getting a complement in goal to Jack Campbell pic.twitter.com/sXofAlnF5F
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) July 24, 2021
Dubas says they'll be looking for a Zach Bogosian-type add at free agency, similar to what they did last year. Says they'll be looking to add size and strength, penalty-killing utility types.
— David Alter (@dalter) July 24, 2021
Their first job is to decide if they are issuing Qualifying Offers to their four RFAs, which are due Monday. All are arbitration eligible:
- Nic Petan
- Denis Malgin
- Joey Duszak
- Veini Vehvilainen/
Malgin is currently training with the Swiss National Team as a lead up to his summer of workouts.
At noon on July 28, free agency opens, and between now and then, we can expect some trade rumours, but it seems the idea of a Zach Hyman sign and trade is dead in the water. He will sign with the Oilers on Wednesday.
Kyle Dubas on not just accepting any compensation for Zach Hyman:
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) July 24, 2021
"I know that there's a narrative that we should just get something, but you're saving a team significant dollars on the salary cap [with that 8th year]. That comes with a cost, and we're not going to bend on that"
Dubas has said his priority is finding a goalie, so that’s what we should be looking for as the first meaningful move of this quiet offseason.
Dubas on who he's looking for in a goaltender with Campbell: We're really just looking for the best goalie possible to come in and for a good a tandem as possible and let them get after it, push each other, support each other and be the best duo that they can to help our team.
— David Alter (@dalter) July 24, 2021
