NHL Draft

One of the Weasel Boys is bringing his weasely talents to the Maple Leafs organization, and he may be this year's Harry Nansi prospect that's a long term project with big potential.

Toronto's 2026 draft class is in the books and they made a LOT of picks. Here are my quick thoughts on each of the picks individually but also in their draft strategy as a whole.

The Leafs took a guy I had on my late round watch list most of the season and who juuuuuuuust missed the cut to be included on my listicle for late round forwards.

A last second trade got the Leafs another pick.

The Leafs take a teammate of Zach Olsen in Cooper Williams, who will be a reclamation project after struggling compared to expectations going into this season.

The second goalie taken today.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Toronto finishes their flurry of third round picks by taking a Finnish goalie.

He is never too much man.

Toronto took a guy that teams hate to play against, genuinely. If you want a guy who can be an energy checker and a rat, he's a fun one.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have taken Ethan MacKenzie with the 69th overall pick in the third round of the 2026 Entry Draft. Vitals MacKenzie is going to turn 20 in September, and it from Gavin McKenna's training base of Kelowna, BC. He is a left-shooting defender and

There were some surprise picks in the first round, which means some guys I wouldn't have expected to be available in the second round suddenly are. The more players get pushed down, the clearer it is who will be available when Toronto's next pick comes up.

Elite, elite, elite.

Wendel, Auston, and ...?

All the information you need if you want to watch either/both days of the 2024 NHL draft in Vegas this year. It will start at 7 pm EST on Friday, with day two starting at 11:30 am EST.

What even are goalies? I have no idea, but here are ten of them whose names may come up this weekend.

None seemed to be ranked in a range that made sense for the picks Toronto has now, but if the Leafs somehow get a pick or two more in that range...

There are some interesting older defensemen who are re-entering the draft this year, including some that should be familiar to those who read these profiles last year.

There are some other creative trades the Leafs could make going into the draft to both acquire more picks and acquire NHL players to help right now.

There aren't many high level re-entry forwards this year, but there are a few players with pro-compatible skills that could make for interesting depth.

Who can the Leafs turn into prospects?

Toronto tends to draft defensemen in later rounds who I've never even heard of before, but just in case here are some I like who aren't really ranked by anyone.

No, I'm not saying Toronto should do this. But if they want to, what kind of return would they get from other teams in a pure pick trade?

There's quite a few forwards who could still be around late in the draft that I like, and as you can imagine most of them are smaller but have interesting skills.

He will be one of the more interesting defenseman with two-way potential outside of the first round in this year's draft.