There are just three days left before Friday’s NHL Entry Draft for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs (along with the rest of the NHL) will immediately face free agency, which opens on Monday, following the conclusion of the draft on Saturday.
In addition to the draft and free agency, tonight is Stanley Cup Final Game 7. As a result, the upcoming week in the NHL should be quite exciting.
The Leafs have a few things they need to do before Friday because their free-agency and draft plans will depend on a few things, and because they attempted to add a goalie through a trade last week, as was expected.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have three plans before the draft. 1. They will trade for a goalie.
Until the Leafs find out who their goalie is, I don’t see how they can do anything. By Friday, I would expect one of their top four targets—whom I have identified—to be a Leafs player.
It is impossible to exaggerate how much they need a world-class goalie, particularly in light of Joseph Woll’s injury that kept him out of game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
2. The Marner Mitch
The Leafs cannot start the season with the Mitch Marner situation hanging over them, but they also cannot take the necessary steps in free agency and the draft with such a significant question mark remaining unresolved.
If the Leafs are going to trade Marner, they should probably do it before the draft because they can’t afford to wait out this summer. If they don’t intend to do that, I anticipate that they will declare their intention to sign him the moment he becomes eligible for an extension, which is Monday of next week.
3. Advance in the Draft
In my opinion, the Leafs will attempt to move up in the draft in an attempt to select one of the many excellent defensemen that could be available this year if they decide not to use their 23rd pick to select a goalie. With so many talented defensemen available, particularly 6’7 potential Zdeno Chara Anton Silayev, the 2024 draft is expected to be fantastic.
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