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Leafs focus at Draft looks to be up the middle

June 16, 2018, 8:12 PM ET [57 Comments]
Mike Augello
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Kyle Dubas took Saturday morning to revel in the jubilation of the Toronto Marlies success and their Calder Cup victory, celebrating with the players, staff and fans outside Ricoh Coliseum, but the Toronto Maple Leafs GM will now shift focus to the NHL Draft in Dallas, TX next Friday.

The Leafs have the 25th pick in the first round (their lowest first selection since 2010) and based on the focus of their interviews at the NHL Draft Combine, the club appears to be focused on bolstering their rather thin organizational depth at center.

With the likely departure of veterans Tyler Bozak, Dominic Moore and Tomas Plekanec via free agency, Dubas will have two slots on the NHL roster to fill up the middle.

Vacancies may be addressed internally by shifting William Nylander to center and promoting either Miro Aaltonen, new acquisition Par Lindholm or former first rounder Frederik Gauthier, but Nylander’s success at wing alongside Auston Matthews and Mike Babcock’s apparent reservations in his being able to play effectively up the middle may force Dubas to look outside the organization for center help.

In terms of their prospect pipeline, the Leafs weakest and thinnest area is up the middle, with Gauthier, 22-year-old Adam Brooks and 2017 draft pick Ryan McGregor as the top three youngsters at that position, which is why their diligence at the combine to interview nearly every center could mean they are looking in that direction in Dallas.

The upcoming draft is considered good, with top pick Rasmus Dahlin and forward Brady Tkachuk, Andrei Svechnikov and Filip Zadina all possibly being able to make the NHL as 18-year-olds, but it is not a strong center draft.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi is considered the top center in the Draft and one of the few who could grow into an NHL first liner, but the Finnish youngster could go anywhere from #3 overall to the teens.

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According to Russ Cohen’s (my cohort on the Buzzcast and the co-host of Sirius/XM’s Hockey Prospect Radio) updated Top 31 Draft List, if Toronto remains at 25, they could end up with one of the following centers in the first:

Barrett Hayton – 6-1, 190 – C – Sault Ste. Marie: The Greyhounds connection is too much to ignore, but he is ranked at 17th and may be long gone when the Leafs pick comes up.

Joe Veleno - 6-1, 194 – C – Drummondville –: Granted exceptional status to play in the Q as a 15-year-old, the 6’1” 195 lb. did not fulfill those lofty expectations, but is ranked 18th after scoring 22 goals, 57 assists in 64 games.

Rasmus Kupari - 6-1, 189 – C – Karpat: The 18-year-old (ranked 22nd) played for Finland at the Under-18’s, the World Junior in Buffalo and in the Finnish SM-Liiga.

Ryan McLeod - 6-2, 206 – C – Mississauga Steelheads: The 6’2” 190 lb. center (ranked 23rd) is a GTA native and has NHL bloodlines with brother Michael a 2016 first round pick of New Jersey and jumped from nine to 26 goals in his second OHL season.

Isac Lundestrom – 6-0, 183 – C – Lulea HF: The Leafs scouting has been excellent and they have selected two of their recent first round picks (Nylander and Timothy Liljegren) from Sweden. Lundestrom (ranked 24th) can play both center and wing and scored six points in the recent WJC.

Benoit-Olivier Groulx – 6-1, 192 – C – Halifax Mooseheads: Ranked 25th, Groulx (son of Syracuse Crunch head coach Benoit Groulx) has good hockey IQ and as a two-way forward scored 55 points for Halifax in his second season in the QMJHL.

Jacob Olofsson – 6-2, 189 – C – Timra – IK : An 18-year-old with size, smarts and strength, the 29th ranked Olofsson scored 21 points in Sweden’s second division Allsvenskan and played for Tre Kronor in the Under 18’s.

One name outside of the top 31 that could be on the Toronto radar is Flint center Ty Dellandrea. Sportsnet's Jeff Marek and Sam Consentino on the most recent 31 Thoughts podcast talked very highly of the 17-year-old's character (who scored 59 points in his second OHL season) and could move up into the late part of the first round.

Dubas did not rule out the possibility of a trade involving the Leafs first. In 2015, when he and Mark Hunter ran the Draft, Toronto traded down their first rounder acquired from Nashville in the Cody Franson deal with Philadelphia and again with Columbus, turning the 24th overall selection into a pair of second round picks (Travis Dermott, Jeremy Bracco) and a third rounder (Martins Dzierkals).

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