TORONTO – Earlier in PHN’s Mock Draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Dylan Strome with the 4th overall pick, but the Leafs come up again with the 24th overall pick thanks to the Nashville Predators in a four player trade. Conventional thinking with teams that have more than one first round pick is to think that the team won’t use both picks on two forwards or two defensemen. The Philadelphia Flyers back in 2003 selected Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in the first round and got a ton of mileage from both. Will the Leafs go the same route?
Don’t bet against it. In our mock draft, a lot of quality in a deep draft such as the 2015 draft calls leaves names such as Nick Merkley, Filip Chapik, and Brock Boeser still on the board but to ignore defense where the Leafs are picking could be a mistake.
Jeremy Roy, Ryan Pilon, Brandon Carlo, and Swedish defenseman Jacub Larsson are going to be hard for the Leafs to pass up given their need to bolster their blueline.
As tempting as it might be to add a defenseman, adding more offense to a league, and team for that matter, who is in dire need of offense, will add to a Maple Leafs team who already has prospect William Nylander down the middle of the ice. There is at least one more name to add to the names listed above and we expect the Leafs to make this announcement when their name comes up again at
“With the 24th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. The Toronto Maple Leafs select, from the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, Jake DeBrusk.”
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