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The Toronto Maple Leafs have opportunities to replenish the prospect pool with 11 picks in the 2020 NHL Draft Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as remake their roster with trades this week and in free agency this week. Leafs GM Kyle Dubas appears to open to every eventuality in a pursuit of making his club better, including trading the #15 overall pick acquired in the deal for Kasperi Kapanen or trading down in the first round to add more picks.
“There has been a little more discussion on shifting around picks in the first round. There seems to be a lot of interest in moving up in the round for whatever reason. We are going through that, we’ve some final meetings here this afternoon into this evening and then again tomorrow. We will sort of establish when and how we would make the pick and whether we would move out of it — whether it is to move up in the draft to select something, or move back in the draft, or trade for players.… Dubas said in a conference call on Monday. “It is really all on the table right now. I don’t think, with where we are at, we can turn away from considering anything. I would love to give you a percentage or some level of certainty about what we will do, but I don’t really know at this point. We have to consider everything given the circumstances we are in and the league is in.…
The Leafs pick could be an excellent prospect like Noel Gunler, Dylan Holloway, or Mavrik Bourque if they stay at 15, but if Dubas decides to trade down to the bottom of the first to recoup picks dealt in deals for Jack Campbell, Kyle Clifford and Nazem Kadri, their target may be defensemen Ryan O’Rourke, Braden Schneider or Jeremy Poirier.
“The last two first-round picks we’ve had (Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin), we’ve used on defense. That is not to say that we wouldn’t use another on D. Our philosophy has always been that when we get there, because it is not like football or basketball even — where the player is going to make an immediate impact on your roster — the way that we have always approached it is to just select the best player and not reach for position.… Dubas said. “There is always a bit of a pull to do that when there are certain holes on your roster, but because the lag time between the draft and making an impact on the NHL roster isn’t as quick as it is in some other sports, sticking to who we feel is the best available player is the way to help the team best moving ahead.…
Dubas also indicated that he recognized after the Leafs qualifying round loss to Columbus and the success that Dallas and Tampa Bay had in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that having a roster capable of playing with high skill and heavy hockey is a necessity and that any changes to the roster will focus on adding support players who can play physically.
“It goes without saying that we would like to be incredibly hard to play against. Some of that does have to happen organically as our players continue to mature and grow.… Dubas said. “I think the playoffs this year showed that a number of teams that have a number of examples of doing that, with their own guys and altering their mindset and having some setbacks that have forced them to play a different way at times. There is no doubt it is something we would like to address through free agency and trades that come up. It is a priority of ours.…
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that one potential target of interest for Toronto in their pursuit of being tougher is veteran Wayne Simmonds. The 32-year-old played for four clubs (Philadelphia, Nashville, New Jersey and Buffalo) the last two years and Toronto’s interest would be conditional on Simmonds taking significantly lower than his $5 million salary from last season.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated that the Sabres have given permission for interested clubs to speak with Simmonds representatives and that the Montreal Canadiens are also interested in the winger, who lives in the Toronto area during the offseason.
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