Here is a great retrospective on the life of Gordie Howe by Keith Olbermann in October 2014, after the hockey legend had a major stroke.
Rest In Peace, Mr. Hockey
********
The Toronto Maple Leafs transitioned in the span of two seasons from an organization relatively barren of prospects to a club that has a wealth of young talent, including first round picks William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen, former OHL scoring champion Connor Brown and an impressive 2015 draft class that includes Memorial Cup MVP Mitch Marner, Travis Dermott, Jeremy Bracco, Andrew Nielsen and Dmytro Timashov.
Toronto has five of the first 62 picks at the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo later this month and will add a cornerstone piece in the rebuild by selecting Auston Matthews with the first overall selection, but a key to the club's future success is Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter taking advantage of a golden opportunity to find players who can eventually contribute.
The Leafs will pick either 29th or 30th in the first round (with the pick obtained from Pittsburgh in the Phil Kessel deal), two second-round picks (their own at #31 and Washington’s acquired in the Daniel Winnik trade 57th overall), as well as the top pick in the 3rd round (#62).
There was always the possibility of a Draft Day deal packaging extra picks to move up, but the cost of trading up into the middle of the first round could be so prohibitive that a team at Toronto’s level of development would find such a maneuver counter-productive.
Focusing on the likely course that GM Lou Lamoriello stands pat with the picks that the Leafs currently have, here is how things may fall out:
Goaltender - All indications are that the Leafs will select a goalie early on Saturday, perhaps even with the first pick in the second round. The connections between Hunter and London goalie Tyler Parsons are too much to ignore, but winning 17 straight games en route to the Memorial Cup may have vaulted the 18-year-old into the lower part of round 1.
If Parsons is gone, Toronto’s eyes may turn to Carter Hart of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips or Swedish goalie Filip Gustavsson, who was ranked first among European goalies by NHL Central Scouting.
Hart or Gustavsson could fall as to the Leafs other pick at the end of the second round, while Sherbrooke’s Evan Fitzpatrick may be a target if Toronto holds off until the third round.
Defense - The top blueliners in this draft class are going to evaporate quickly. Olli Juolevi, Mikhail Sergachev, Jakub Chychrun and Dante Fabbro will be gone in the top half of the first round, Jake Bean and Charlie McAvoy soon after.
Windsor's Logan Stanley, Czech import Libor Hajek and Markus Niemelainen may be there for the Penguins pick, but mobility is a question mark for the 6'7" 225 lb Stanley and that does not seem to fit the Leafs emphasis on speed. Niemelainen can skate well, has size (6'6" 205 lb) and played for Saginaw, where Leafs director of player evaluation Jim Paliafito served as GM until last May.
North Bay's Cam Dineen, Kelowna's Lucas Johansen or Brandon's Kyle Clague also may be an option at the end of the first, depending on if there is a run on defensemen. Hunter may choose to wait until the Washington pick at the end of the second if he feels that NCAA-bound Adam Fox, Dennis Cholowski or Andrew Peeke could be a diamond in the rough.
Forward - After nabbing Matthews at the top of the draft, the understandable preference would be to go for something other than a forward, but the Leafs will likely be taking a "best player available" approach.
Center Rasmus Asplund (who scored three goals for Sweden in the 2016 World Junior) or Erie forward Alex DeBrincat(with consecutive 50 goal OHL seasons) would fit the Leafs pattern of selecting smallish skill players with speed, but Toronto can only have so many of them in the organization before it becomes a liability.
Mississauga's Nathan Bastian, Erie's Taylor Raddysh and U Conn's Tage Thompson could all be available late in the first. The 6'4" 208 lb Bastian played most of the season with '16 first round prospects Alex Nylander and Michael McLeod and had 59 point (19 goals and 40 assists) in 64 games.
Raddysh scored 24 goals and 48 assists playing with DeBrincat and Dylan Strome on the Otters top line, while Thompson came out of the US National Development program and moved from the fourth line to the first in his freshman season, scoring 14 goals and 18 assists in 36 games.
*******
Listen my interview with former Leafs Asst GM Bill Watters, as we discuss the Stanley Cup Final, the possible NHL expansion to Las Vegas and some rumors of key players moving this summer:
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.*******
Note : Continue to check back to my column on Hockeybuzz throughout the day for the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»