The NHL Entry Draft is July 23 and 24 this year, just over two weeks from now. The Toronto Maple Leafs have three picks in that draft, their own second, fifth and sixth, set to be the 57th, 153rd and 185th overall. That’s exactly what you get when you go all in on the playoffs, and that strategy looked reasonable back in April. Now the paltry pile of draft picks looks very bad when it’s the price paid for a first-round exit.
Let’s not forget that the Leafs drafted 12 players last year, so they were laying the groundwork then for a thin crop this year.