How much do you think the Toronto Maple Leafs loved the 2015 NHL entry draft? They got Mitch Marner, they got Travis Dermott, they got Jeremy Bracco. It was a pretty good first few rounds - but then they just kept going.
At 65th overall, they selected defenceman Andrew Nielsen. And all the way down at 125th overall, left winger Dmytro Timashov.
The two 19-year-olds would appear to both be in the Leafs' future plans, because both have been signed to entry-level contracts.
Nielsen, who plays for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, currently has seven goals and 24 points over 23 games. Being over a point per game in the WHL is nothing to sneeze at, and the fact that he's currently tied for second in defencemen scoring in that league attests to that. He's even fourth in overall Hurricanes scoring!
Timashov, meanwhile, has 13 goals and 41 points over 23 games for the Quebec Remparts. That's a 1.78 point per game pace - an increase from his 1.36 point per game pace from the previous season, when he was named the QMJHL's rookie of the year. Timashov is leading the Remparts in scoring by a fair margin (he has nine more points than the next guy), and is sixth in overall league scoring.
Both players are off to excellent starts in their draft+1 years - here's to many more good things to come.