38th Overall: Fraser Minten (Kamloops Blazers, C): I absolutely loved this pick. Minten is a fiercely competitive 2 way center who put up some good numbers in the WHL. At 6'1 185lbs, he has the frame of an NHL player with a ton of time to bulk up. His FO% was adequate, so I dont think he projects to play C at the NHL level which is fine. We also have Malhotra whose been great with our Cs so far. I didnt think he was a guy we were looking at, but Im beyond happy with this pick. He's a guy I've really liked in the past. Also, considering we moved back to clear Mrazek's contract and still got Minten makes that an A+ trade.
- Elite Prospects Quote: "Shooting and physicality are Minten's defining skills. A powerful one-timer, a smooth curl-and-drag wrister, and two-touch wristers make him equally effective shooting in space as he is under pressure." "Early in the season, Minten's physical game was limited to thunderous hits. Towards the end, he cranked the violence meter up."

95th Overall: Nick Moldenhauer (Chicago Steel, RW): Not to brag, but I have been on record saying I really want Nick Moldenhauer and even tweeted it out prior to the selection. Bragging aside, Nick Moldenhauer's journey was absolutely incredible, and he's also just a straight up great player. In the span of one season, he contracted an illness that caused him to lose 15lbs, and got a laceration right by his jaw from a skate in his first game back, sidelining him for a while. Despite this, he returned to the Steel lineup and was over a point per game. He's a local kid being from Mississauga, and makes for a fantastic pick. The trade back was a great bit of work by Dubas.
- Elite Prospects Quote: "Moldenhauer's skills are readily apparent. He's a dexterous handler, especially in tight spaces. Backhand, forehand, and slip passes feature regularly, even in-motion and under pressure. And the shot's just as impressive."

122nd Overall: Dennis Hildeby (Farjestad BK, G): The immediate standout with Hildeby is his size. 6'6, 234lbs goalie out of Sweden. He is a colossal overager in this draft, being born in 2001 and already being 20 (turning 21 next month). I didnt love this pick, but I'm also not going to complain about drafting a goalie his size. Had a good stretch of 7 games in the SHL. Alright stats in previous years. Time will tell.
- Elite Prospects Quote: N/A

135th Overall: Nikita Grebenkin (Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk, RW): Now this is a pick I am a fan of. Late enough in the draft where you're not missing much, but taking on a guy witn tremendous upside. He is this years Dmitri Ovchinnikov. 17 goals, 64 points in 58 MHL games. He is a 1 year overager, but he has a ton of upside and Im extremely glad we took a flyer on him. Unlikely Ovchinnikov, Grebenkin is 6'2, 183lbs. Is he a sure fire NHLer? No. Does he have the tools to be a good NHLer? Absolutely. Huge boom or bust, and if he is a bust, then no loss.
- Elite Prospects Quote: "Has remarkable stickhandling ability, can get creative to challenge defensemen one-on-one.. pretty fast too"

218th Overall: Brandon Lisowsky (Saskatoon Blades, LW): This pick is a shot in the dark. Lisowsky is a 5'9 WHL player who had 33 goals, 58 points in 68 games. He has a fantastic release, but not much else. Needs to work on a lot. Pretty standard for a 7th round pick, although we did get some great value here as he was projected to go much earlier.
- Elite Prospects Quote: "In a WHL forward crop defined by details-oriented forwards, the inside-driven shooting game of Brandon Lisowsky stands out. Don't be fooled by the stat-line; he's an NHL shooter"

Overall, I am stoked about this draft. Minten and Moldenhauer are the two standout picks in my opinion. I think they were both fantastic prospects to add. The rest have too much uncertainty around them for me to give them a vote of confidence that I can give to Minten and Moldenhauer. Dubas did a fantastic job. The trade back to get Moldenhauer and Grebenkin is a real standout. The Mrazek trade was fantastic. What a great draft across the board, super entertaining and now we are prepped for Free Agency.

My thoughts on the picks. I’m not an expert in the slightest but a few things stood out.

Mintin: love the idea of getting him. A 2 way centre with physical upside and is a playoff performer? Great draft target. But 38 is way higher than anyone had him. I don’t see why Dubas didn’t trade down again to the middle of the second round or the bottom of the second round to take him. It was a reach but I love what Mintin will bring to the leafs.

Moldenhauer: this is the opposite of Mintin. Not a team need as they have small wingers out the wazoo. But he was projected to go higher than this so I’m good with it. Would have preferred a defence man but I do really like this pick. The whole local guy thing is always great too.

Hildeby: they need goalies so I’m fine with it. His stats are good. Not a bad 4th round pick I guess.

Grebenkin: weird pick. Not sure why we need overages Russian wingers. But in the 5th round not much to complain.

Lisowsky: he was projected to go way higher so as far as 7th rounders go this is as good as they come. But still a 7th rounder.

All in all solid draft. Nothing crazy good but good. I’d say slightly above average.

You could definitely tell that Wes Clark is completely different from Lilley. Minten and Moldenhauer weren't drafted for their skill (although they are very skileld), but instead their playoff performances and their constant motors, as well as their good play at both ends of the ice. It was also kind of weird to see so many Canadians drafted, the last time the Leafs took multiple Canadians in the top 3 rounds was 2018. I really liked the approach here, Moldenhauer reminds me a lot of Connor Brown while Minten seems like more of a William Karlsson kind of player

Agreed, my thoughts as well was Clark is very different from Lilley. I kind of liked the fact that there are more Canadians. Have nothing against other nationalities but I still like Canadians the best.

I don’t know a whole lot about either but I already like the comparisons to Karlsson and Brown (obviously they probably won’t reach that potential, but even if they get halfway to those guys those are good picks.