With the next few weeks being slow in the hockey news department, we will be doing a series of columns on past deals, draft picks and signings that had a detrimental effect on the fortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The 2010-11 season was another disappointing one for the Maple Leafs, who were led by Phil Kessel with 32 goals and Nikolai Kulemin with a career-high 30.
The combination of an inconsistent defense and the mediocre goaltending of Jonas Gustavsson and Jean-Sebastien Giguere found Toronto was well under .500 when James Reimer was called up in January. Reimer went 20-10-5 in the second half, but the Leafs still finished eight points out of the playoffs.
After attempting and failing with a quick reset of the Toronto roster with trades for Kessel, Kris Versteeg and Dion Phaneuf and the free agent signings of Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin, GM Brian Burke began to deal off some of his veterans to recoup some future assets.
Versteeg was dealt to Philadelphia for a pair of draft picks (which turned into Stuart Percy and Josh Leivo), Beauchemin was traded back to Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul and prospect defenseman Jake Gardiner and veteran Tomas Kaberle waived his no-trade clause to be sent to Boston.
The Leafs got former Bruins first round pick Joe Colborne, a conditional second round pick (which Toronto received for the Bruins getting to the Cup Final) and their 2011 first round pick.
Toronto had the 25th and 30th selections in the first round and their own second round pick at #39.
Burke was looking for a player that befitted his pugnacity-truculence-testosterone moniker and found that in winger Tyler Biggs.
Ranked 22nd by NHL Central Scouting, Biggs impressed scouts with his physical maturity, strength and speed for his size, but most though the 6’2” 220 lb forward was a raw talent with limited offensive upside that needed years to develop.
The Leafs GM once again found a willing trade partner in Ducks GM Bob Murray, his former assistant during his tenure in Anaheim. Burke swapped the #30 and #39 picks to move up eight slots in the first round and chose the big winger at #22.
Biggs played as a freshmen at Miami(OH) University, but left after a year to play with Oshawa Generals of the OHL before turning pro in 2013.
In two seasons with the Toronto Marlies, Biggs scored just nine goals and five assists in 104 AHL games and never played a game for the Leafs. He was included in the Kessel deal to Pittsburgh in July 2015 and played last season with the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL.
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First round picks not panning out are a reality in professional sport, but what makes the draft trade and failure of Biggs more painful is what Anaheim did with the picks they received from the Leafs.
At #30, the Ducks selected Swedish center Rickard Rakell. After two seasons in the OHL and slowly making progress over three years in the AHL and NHL, Rakell broke through in 2016 with 20 goals and led Anaheim with 33 goals last season.
With the Leafs second round pick, the Ducks selected goaltender John Gibson, who made both Jonas Hiller and Frederik Andersen expendable and is considered one of the best young goaltenders in the NHL.
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