Toronto Maple Leafs draft results: Round One

So, with the NHL combine this past weekend, and the draft three weeks away, curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know just how many Leafs draft picks ended a season or two (or rarely...more) for the team.

The results of my labours were...underwhelming. The first couple rounds had some great picks, but overall it’s not just Mark Hunter who picked players that went nowhere; it was every scout and GM hired by the team.

Wacky, eh?

So, here are the summarized results for the Leafs first round picks. The rest of the draft will follow over the course of the week. This is just a series on things I found while sorting the picks, I don’t have much of a narrative other than satisfying my own curiosity.

Let’s start with what position the Maple Leafs focus on.

Centres and defenders have been the most popular picks in round one, though most players who were drafted as centres will end up as wingers in the NHL.

The OHL is the most popular league to pick from by a mile, with the WHL and SHL trailing behind just close enough to be dots in the OHL’s rear view mirror.

So how did the picks do?

Well, 10 first rounds never played a game for the Maple Leafs at all: Luca Cereda (1999), John Wright (1966), Steve Bancroft (1989), Grant Marshall (1992), Eric Fichaud (1994), Ernie Moser (1969), Landon Wilson (1993), Tyler Biggs (2011), Tuukka Rask (2005), and Timothy Liljegren (2017). Timmy’s got the benefit of the doubt here as he was only drafted last year. The rest were just bad picks or (sigh) bad trades.

Of those who did play, the most successful first round pick was Darryl Sittler (1971), who played 844 games for the Maple Leafs, scoring 389 goals, 527 assists for 916 points. Only four other players put in more than 500 games as a Leaf after being picked in round one: Wendel Clark (1985), Ian Turnbull (1973), John Anderson (1977), and Nik Antropov (1998). Nazem Kadri (2009) is looking to join that group, as he’s only 12 games away from his 500th as a Maple Leaf.

Related

The first draft pick: Walt McKechnie

Going to the opposite end of the scale — of those players who played an NHL game for the Maple Leafs, Tom Martin (1965) had the fewest games played at just three. He was drafted from the Toronto Marlboroughs OHA team and played only three games for the Leafs (1 goal) before spending the majority of his career in the minors/WHA.

On average the typical first round pick will play 189 games for the Maple Leafs, score 48 goals, add 73 assists for 121 points. If we only count players who have played games, that number jumps up to 248 games, 60 goals, 92 assists for 151 points.

Here are all of the Maple Leafs first round picks since the NHL Amateur draft began.

Maple Leafs round one picks

Thanks for letting my curiosity get into your brains as well. Round two is up tomorrow.