With the Boston Bruins bowing out in the first round of the playoffs to the Florida Panthers, we now know when the Toronto Maple Leafs will make their first selection in this summer’s draft.
The Leafs acquired the Bruins’ first-round pick back in late February in what was essentially a three-way trade between Toronto, Boston, and Washington. The Bruins acquired Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway from the Capitals in exchange for a first-round draft pick among other things, and that first-round pick was flipped to the Leafs a few days later in a deal for Rasmus Sandin.
Leafs trade Rasmus Sandin to Capitals for Erik Gustafsson, Boston’s first-round pick https://t.co/oGCKC0RlBf
— TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) February 28, 2023
The Bruins put together the strongest regular season in league history and won the Presidents’ Trophy handily but the NHL bases the draft order on how far teams go in the playoffs. Picks No. 29 and No. 30 go to the two teams that lose in the Conference Finals, the No. 31 pick goes to the team that loses in the Stanley Cup Final, and the No. 32 goes to the team that wins it all.
So, since Boston had the league’s best record and won’t advance any further in the playoffs, we know their pick will be slotted in at No. 28 overall. Barring any other moves, this will be Toronto’s first pick in the upcoming draft, as they moved their own first-round pick to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari.
The Leafs have selected No. 28 overall twice in their history. They drafted Jeff Jackson in 1983 and Daniel Marois in 1987 and they went on to play 263 and 350 games in the league respectively. Some notable players who were selected No. 28 overall and went on to have successful NHL careers are Justin Williams (2000, PHI), Corey Perry (2003, ANA), Matt Niskanen (DAL, 2005), and Nick Foligno (2006, OTT).
The Leafs selected Sandin with the No. 29 overall pick back in the 2018 draft. There were some reservations about the trade after Sandin scored 15 points over 19 games in an increased role with Washington but those have largely been pushed aside because Toronto’s new-look defence played a major role in the Leafs beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
