The Leafs actually tried to sign John Tavares before he was drafted
On July 1, 2018, John Tavares and the Leafs shocked the hockey world when they announced Tavares would be playing the next 7 years in a Leafs jersey. Of course, that left a sour taste in the mouths of Islanders fans, but did you know that before the Islanders selected him at 1st overall in 2009, the Leafs tried to sign him to an AHL deal one year prior?
It was an idea that then Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. had thought about, given that the AHL had only recently introduced a rule that players had to be 18 to be eligible to play in the league. The Leafs attempted to get the league to grant Tavares "exceptional player status" to sign with the Marlies for a 1-year deal. This would have been the same type of permission he received from the Ontario Hockey League to play as a 15-year-old.
Unfortunately, the AHL wasn't having any of it and the NHL also commented saying, "from an NHL perspective, if the Marlies sign Tavares to a one-year deal before he became eligible for NHL play, it would be no issue for us, but a two-year deal, done through an affiliate, would be a circumvention of the CBA."
Essentially, even if the Leafs did sign Tavares before he was draft eligible, he would have had to enter the draft regardless and the Leafs would've done all that work for nothing.
Source: Sportsnet.ca
