Toronto Maple Leafs News

From ill-advised draft picks to bad coaches,
Macleans.ca breaks down the reasons the Maple Leafs stink

Hindsight, it’s been said, is always 20/20. That’s especially true when it comes to an NHL entry draft. Over the years, the Leafs have been justifiably maligned for some of their decisions at the draft table—the names Luca Cereda, Jeff Ware and Eric Fichaud come to mind. But their overall record on draft day is actually, like the team itself, pretty average.

Of the nearly 4,000 players drafted between 1992 and 2006, only about a third (35.3 per cent) had suited up for at least one NHL game prior to the start of the 2007-2008 season, and only a quarter (25.1 per cent) can lay claim to lasting at least 25 games in the big league. Leafs’ draftees are only slightly less likely to have accomplished either feat: 34.1 per cent played at least one game and 23.5 per cent made it to the 25-game mark. In both categories, Toronto finds itself firmly in the middle of the pack.

Where Leafs management has failed in much more spectacular fashion is with first-round picks. In the 15 drafts between 1992 and 2006, the Leafs made 13 first-round selections. While they haven’t all been total busts, Toronto’s first-rounders have, on average, produced a meagre 81.3 points over the course of their NHL career—that’s good for 21st place among the NHL’s 30 franchises.

Tampa Bay, by comparison, has done a masterful job with its first-round picks. Granted, a number of them were much higher than Toronto’s, most notably the first overall selections in 1992 (Roman Hamrlik) and 1998 (Vincent Lecavalier). But the Lightning managed to convert its 11 first-round selections into 2,526 points, more than double the 1,057 points produced by the Leafs’ 13 first-rounders over the same time span. Ottawa has shown a similar knack for draft success. Bolstered by the likes of Marian Hossa (582 career points) and–gasp!–Alexei Yashin (780 career points), Ottawa’s 16 first-round picks have averaged 211.3 points over the course of their NHL career.

Compared to their Original Six counterparts, the Maple Leafs have iced considerably fewer scoring stars. Since they last hoisted the Stanley Cup back in ‘67, a meagre 15 Toronto players have finished among the league’s top 10 scorers. Darryl Sittler came closest, finishing third in 1977-78 with an impressive 117-point campaign. Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin are the only other Leafs to have ranked among the top-five scorers in a single season.

Over the same time span, Boston players wedged their way into the top-10 scorers an astonishing 44 times. Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr alone accounted for 14 appearances, just one shy of all Maple Leafs combined. What’s more, Boston had the league’s top points-getter on its roster eight times. With Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr on their roster for a number of years, Pittsburgh comes closest to Boston’s impressive showing with 37 appearances in the top-10 and a Penguin topped the league in scoring a whopping 12 times. The Colorado-Quebec franchise (29 appearances), Los Angeles (27 appearances), and Edmonton (26 appearances) round out the top-five teams.

Not surprisingly the Leafs’ inability to ice (or draft) top-notch talent is reflected in Toronto’s haul of year-end awards. Leafs players haven’t won a single major trophy since 1967; the last time a Leaf placed second in voting for an award dates back to 1999, when Curtis Joseph lost the Vezina to Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek. Aside from Columbus, Carolina, Minnesota, Nashville, Anaheim and Florida—none of which were even in the NHL when the Leafs last won the Cup—no other franchise has been completely shut out at the NHL awards ceremony.

With few exceptions, the Maple Leafs’ head coaches since 1967 have had similarly unspectacular tenures in the NHL. And most of them struggled in their next jobs, too—if they could find jobs at all.