Quoting: Nathaniel
The thing that hurt me the most was the availability of Lambert at 25 and then trading back. I get the trade and I liked it, but I watched nervously for 4 hours and had hope when I saw Minnesota didnt take him at 24. And then we traded back. I REALLY like Minten. Great competitor, and he plays with a lot of bite. Moldenhauer was also a real standout and definitely a steal at 95. Grebenkin is a neat guy to take a flyer on. He is this year's Ovchinnikov. Outside of them, the other picks were really meh. Was it a great draft? No, but it was decent. A lot of uncertainty, but we did the best with what we had.
If you wanted Minten, you could have traded back. Obviously they know more than me, so I guess they believed he wouldn't have made it to late in the 2nd round but I find that hard to believe. If they wanted Fraser (who I don't hate but they reached for him) I think you could have traded back and still get him while picking up another pick. I hope he proves me wrong.
Like the Moldenhauer, I was high on him. i am just a little frustrated with the direction, they have so many of these guys already in the organization (Robertson, Steeves, Hirvonen, Ovchinnikov, Miettinen). And adding another goaltender to a list of (Akhtyamov, Peksa, Woll, Petruzzelli, McKay, Cavallin) I'm all for having as many bullets in the gun cause goalies are voodoo but I don't like that pick. Again hope Hildeby proves me wrong.
And then Lisowsky just adds again to that similar type player they have in abundance. I know nothing about Grebenkin so I can't comment on him, other that he played with Danila Yurov and is a dynamic forward with good vision. Not the pick I would have gone with.
The Leafs are in such a need of a high end C and more toughness. If I could play captain hindsight and just use the picks we had (although I wish they traded back from 38 to get another pick):
Noah Warren at 38
Bryce Mcconnell-Barker at 95
Cruz Lucius at 122
Tnias Mathurin at 135
Logan Morrison at 218 (I can't believe he went undrafted) (fingers crossed on all hands they sign him)
Not a scout, I trust the Leafs more than me, just guys I liked more.