The Maple Leafs watched the first round of the NHL Entry Draft unfold last night sitting on the sidelines, having traded away their first round pick. Today we go through rounds two through seven, starting at 11:00 a.m. and going until who knows how long, but it will for sure be way too long.e

The selections do go much faster on the second day, so the Leafs first pick should come around rather quickly. The 57th overall selection is the 25th pick of the day, and at 90 seconds per pick that puts it about 37 minutes in, so plan on the announcement of the Leafs first selection to happen before noon.

Follow the link below for a recap and links to news of all the trades made yesterday.

2021 NHL Draft day one recap: Trades! Trades! Trades!

We will of course have comment and reaction posts today for each of the three selections made by the Leafs, and more as necessary if Kyle Dubas feels like making some trades of players to get even more picks.

Draft Day One and the Canadiens

What was a slow and plodding draft event that largely unfolded as projected suddenly descended into turmoil when the Montreal Canadiens selected Logan Mailloux with the 31st (second last) selection of the night.

Mailloux spent last season playing in Sweden, and during his time there he was charged and fined by an administrative court process for secretly taking a photo of a woman during a sexual encounter with him and then widely distributing the image without her knowledge. Further details are reported here. Most notable in the reports is a statement from the victim saying that he had never apologised to her, at least as of a few weeks ago when this news was first published.

He was reported to be on on the “do not draft” lists of several teams, and Mailloux himself publicly declared that he would skip the draft this year and would return to junior hockey playing for the London Knights, where GM Mark Hunter said he would put in place a personal development framework for him to follow, after which he would likely enter the draft next year. The Canadiens drafted him this year anyway, in the first round.

The negative reaction was swift and widespread, both in and out of the hockey world. From hardliner old-school newspaper columnist Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette suggesting Bergevin should be fired, to Sportsnet’s Tara Slone expressing shock and anger.

Senator for Saskatchewan Denise Batters (Conservative Party) waded in from the political side by expressing disbelief.

The Canadiens immediately issued a prepared statement.

The statement is unsigned, and at this moment it remains unclear when and if Canadiens owner Geoff Molson was made aware of what was going to happen and also signed off on it. This story will likely develop further today as the Habs have scheduled a media event with Logan Mailloux at 11:00 a.m.. I expect little from that beyond some well-rehearsed and carefully constructed statements which he obviously didn’t prepare himself.

What has also happened is a transformation of this situation into a Montreal Canadiens story, with the original event and victim now largely forgotten entirely. It’s an outcome that doesn’t really benefit anyone involved, and yet another black eye for a league already embroiled in other controversies at this moment.

Other News

How about something lighter to end all this before we gear up for a very long day watching Dubas at the draft.

The hidden world of cats: what our feline friends are doing when we’re not looking - The Guardian
In Britain, most pet cats are free to roam, but where do they go and what do they get up to? We fitted six cats with GPS trackers and found out.

Also, bonus points to the first commenter who can name the ex-Leafs prospect who is in the header photo.

From The Branches