We’re getting past the rounds where you’ll find most of a team’s NHL players, and now we’re on to the fourth and fifth rounds. We’ll see some familiar names here but most of the players would never make it to the Maple Leafs.

Starting with the picks by league, it’s once again all OHL, all the time. The QMJHL and WHL take second and third. Also starting in round four there are more and more high school kids taken from the US.

Defenders top the list, but forwards of all positions are all tied up.

Who did round four give us? The most prominent player taken in round four was Alexei Ponikarovsky (1998), who played almost 500 games with the Maple Leafs - 477 - and scored 114 goals, 143 assists for 257 points. No other pick came close to that many games, the next player was Stewart Gavin (1980) who played 268 games, and Darby Hendrickson (1990), Jim Dorey (1964), and James Reimer (2006) top off the players who played more than 200 games as a Maple Leaf. 33 of the 49 players chosen in the fourth round have never played a game as a Maple Leaf, but recent picks like Adam Brooks (2016) and Ian Scott (2017) have plenty of time to get into a game.

The average fourth round pick will play 41 games and score 6 goals, 8 assists for 14 points. If we only look at players who played games it’s 127 games played, 17 goals, 25 assists, and 42 points.

Round Four

PlayerPositionDraft YearNHL GPGoalsAssistsPointsPMFromGAASV%SO
Alexei PonikarovskyLW1998477114143257318Russia Super
Stewart GavinRW1980268344882214OHL
Darby HendricksonC1990233272047195Minn High School
Jim DoreyD1964231257499553OHA JrB
James ReimerG20062070226WHL2.830.91411
Nikolai BorschevskyRW1992142486511338Russia Super
Matt FrattinRW20079115132833AJHL
Jeff ReeseG19847602214OHL4.090.8712
Matt MartinD19897605571Conn High School
Joe SaccoRW19876011132414Mass High School
Korbinian HolzerD20065827955Germany Tier 2
Vincent TremblayG1979540222QMJHL4.70.8681
Gerry MeehanLW1963250222OHL
Adam MairC19972412320OHL
Petter GranbergD201080006Sweden Jrs
Bob ParentG197830000OHL5.650.8450
Dale MacLeishC196600000OHL
Frank HughesRW196900000WHL
Bob GrypLW197000000NCAA
Rick CunninghamD197100000OHL
Brian BowlesD197200000OHL
Frank RochonLW197300000QMJHL
Peter DriscollLW197400000OHL
Tim WilliamsD197600000WHL
Dan EastmanC197700000OHL
Vladimir RuzickaC198200000Czech
Greg VeyLW198500000OHL
Kent HulstC198600000OHL
Ted CrowleyD198800000Mass High School
Greg WaltersLW199000000OHL
Terry ChitaroniRW199100000OHL
Mark RaiterD199200000WHL
Jason SessaRW199600000NCAA
Vladimir AntipovRW199600000Russia Super
Jonathan ZionD199900000OHL
Mirko MurovicLW199900000QMJHL
Miguel DelisleC200000000OHL
David TuronD200200000Czech
Konstantin VolkovRW200300000Russia Jrs
Roman KukumbergC200400000Slovakia
Ben WinnettLW200700000BCHL
Mikhail StefanovichC200800000QMJHL
Tom NilssonD201100000Sweden Jrs
JJ PiccinichRW201400000USHL
Jesper LindgrenD201500000Sweden Jrs
Adam BrooksC201600000WHL
Keaton MiddletonD201600000OHL
Ian ScottG201700000WHL
Vladislav KaraLW201700000Russia Jrs

Round five is exactly what you’d expect the fifth round to be. A handful of players who played a handful of games and not much else.

Does anyone think the OHL won’t ever be #1 by a mile? Lots of QMJHL players drafted in this round though, which probably explains the lack of success. Kidding Quebec, I love you (whispers to rest of the audience: no I don’t.)

Defenders are not the dominant position this time, with one more centre than defender picked in the fifth round. Only one goalie was picked, and it was the best player from round five, and #58 in the top 100 Maple Leafs of all time: Mike Palmateer (1974)

Palmateer played 296 games as a Leaf, and had 3.44GAA and a .892sv% with 15 shutouts and 16 assists over his Leafs career. After Palmateer, the players with the most games played are Kyle Wellwood (2001) at 189 games and John Mitchell (2003) with 159. Mike Eastwood (1987) is the other player to play over 100 games with 111.

38 players played zero NHL games for the Maple Leafs, and the average pick will play 22 games and score only two goals and four assists for six points. If we only look at the players who played a game, it jumps to 72GP - 7G - 15A - 22Pts.

Round Five

PlayerPositionDraft YearNHL GPGoalsAssistsPointsPMFromGAASV%SO
Mike PalmateerG19742960161695OHL3.440.89215
Kyle WellwoodC2001189317710814OHL
John MitchellC200315920355576OHL
Mike EastwoodC198711114233785COJHL
Brian SpencerLW196995102030192WHL
Frank NigroC1979688182641OHL
Greg HothamD1976604111521OHL
Dan HodgsonC19834013122512WHL
Zdenek NedvedC199331461014OHL
Alexei KudashovC1991251014Russia Super
Sam CarrickC20101911213OHL
Bob SykesLW197120000NOJHL
Len EsauD198820000SJHL
Jack CapuanoD198410000Conn High School
Jeff SerowikD198510000Mass High School
Eduard UviraD198200000Czech
Frank MrazekLW199700000Czech
Vaclav ZavoralD199900000Czech Jrs
Jerome FlaakeRW200800000DEL
Eric KnodelD200900000EHL (US Tier 3 Jr)
Alex BerryRW200500000EJHL
Dominic ToninatoC201200000Min. High School
Tony CameranesiC201100000Min. High School
Chris DeRuiterRW199200000MOJHL
Peter CavaC199600000OHL
Fedor GordeevD201700000OHL
Scott TaylorD198600000OHL
John WilsonLW197700000OHL
Ted LongLW197500000OHL
Gord TitcombLW197300000OHL
Brandon SugdenRW199600000OHL
Hugh LarkinRW198000000OHL
Joel ChampagneC200800000QMJHL
Michel PlanteLW197200000QMJHL
Dmytro TimashovLW201500000QMJHL
Luc SimardLW197000000QMJHL
Sylvain CharlandLW198200000QMJHL
Norman LefrancoisRW198100000QMJHL
Morgan WarrenRW199800000QMJHL
Keith CarneyD198900000RI High School
Dmitry VorobievD200400000Russia Super
Daniel BrodinRW201000000SHL
Juraj MikusD200700000Slovakia
Janne GronvallD199200000SM-Liiga
Fabrice HerzogRW201300000Swiss Jrs
Dakota JoshuaC201400000USHL
Greg PaterynD200800000USHL
Mark DeyellC199400000WHL
Barry BrigleyC198100000WHL
Vladimir BobylevLW201600000WHL
Jordy DouglasLW197800000WHL

Tomorrow is a long one. We go through rounds six to thirteen (yes, thirteen).