One month out from the draft, what should we expect from Kyle Dubas?
It's been almost 3 weeks since the Leafs lost a razor close Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and rather than dwelling on the past, we'd all be better served focusing on the future. In this case, the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, which is now just 5 short weeks away.
With the Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers having advanced all the way to the Conference Finals, the Leafs have moved up a few spots from their original 28th overall selection to the 25th selection in the draft. That's of little consolation now, but it does give the Buds some options.
Kyle Dubas did whatever he could to retain his first round pick in this draft, so at this point, it feels highly unlikely that he moves it in a deal for a player, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he won't trade the pick. As we've seen from Dubas in the past, he doesn't have any reservations about trading down to acquire extra picks in the draft and since the Leafs only had 3 picks last year and only 3 picks this year, it stands to reason that Dubas may elect to move his first rounder back a few spots once or even twice to try to draw in some additional draft capital.
The last time the Leafs owned the 25th selection in the draft was in 2018. That year, Dubas pulled off a trade that saw his pick moved to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for the 29th pick and the 76th pick. Those picks turned out to be Rasmus Sandin and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. The Blues used the 25th pick on German forward Dominik Bokk, who has yet to play an NHL game. Bokk, now 22, will become a restricted free agent next summer. Meanwhile, Sandin already has 88 regular season games and 5 playoff games under his belt and is a very promising young player for the Leafs - possibly even a cornerstone on the blueline.
Dubas moved down again in 2020, trading the 44th overall pick to the Ottawa Senators for picks number 59 and 64. The Sens used their pick on 6'4 defenseman Tyler Kleven, with the Leafs using the 59th overall pick on Roni Hirvonen and the 64th overall pick on Topi Niemela, both of whom played pivotal roles for Finland in the 2021 World Junior Championship. Niemela was named defenseman of the tournament that year after posting 8 points in 7 games, while Hirvonen also faired really well, producing 6 points in 7 games. This year, Hirvonen was named captain of Finland's WJC team, but the tournament was unfortunately cancelled and rescheduled due to COVID-19. The make-up tourney will take place later this summer.
I can honestly see a similar deal from Dubas this year to move back from 25 to the 29-30 range to land an additional pick in the 3rd round. I could even see him electing to move back twice to end up with 5 total in the draft.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 3 | 331 ANSWERS One month out from the draft, what should we expect from Kyle Dubas? Will Dubas pick at 25th overall or will he trade down? | ||
| He'll pick at 25 | 132 | 39.9 % |
| He'll trade down | 112 | 33.8 % |
| Neither - he's going to trade up! | 87 | 26.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
