Toronto Maple Leafs

Drafting a bold defender and forget Kovalchuk
June 6, 2017, 10:10 AM ET [297 Comments]
Lucas Neilson
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When the draft approaches each year there are a number of opinions, expert opinions and of course the cookie cutter talks about drafting the best available player. Where I agree this is usually a good idea and it holds some merit, toss that all out the window for this year’s NHL draft.

This Maple Leafs team is stacked with forward talent; an actual gluten of high end talent both on the wings and up the middle. Yes they are young and yes a number of them are not fully proven at the National Hockey League level, but the talent is evident and there are only so many slots for each of these players.

With elite talents like Matthews, Nylander and Marner you can assure those are three slots that will hopefully never go untouched as this is the cream of the crop and it’s without a doubt management’s job to keep them happy until the end. Hopefully when they retire as Leafs greats and are a staple of glory for years to come.

As we know the Leafs have a number of other quality players who are a big part of the success. Komarov, Kadri, Bozak and van Riemsdyk are all major contributors and could easily be kept as part of the core as the team looks to take their next step.

Obviously some big decisions to be made regarding JVR and Bozak but that’s for another day.

The Leafs need defense, and they need it now and they need it for the future. Offensively the prospect pool is of quality and just needs time to ripen. Defensively they are weaker and we all know the prices these days to acquire a top four defender let alone a top pairing.

This year’s strategy must be drafting high quality defensemen and hoping one of them pans out. The first round picks for sure, but other picks in the second and third round as well. The Leafs really need to shore up their core on the back end and how better to do so than good scouting on defensemen and plucking a few out hoping they snag a gem. There has to be one or two out there, there always is…

Drafting:

Nicolas Hague: 6’6, 215 pounds, left handed, defenseman.

Well if the wow factor of 6’6 didn’t catch your attention, now it will. The kid is a beast and he’s only 18 years old, here is the kicker, Hague can skate and skate well. Nicolas is a very mobile defender that the Leafs scouting staff will have seen a lot of. He’s a Kitchener-born Canadian hockey player who can score goals and with that size you’d imagine can block some shots, clear some bodies and create terror in the opposition’s eyes as they come across the blue line.

One of the things I like about Hague (which I also liked about Zach Hyman) is that he is a smart human. Hague is a former OHL scholastic player of the year which shows he not only has hockey smarts, but has his head on straight. That to me is a good thing, as it shows the player will be better at adapting and or learning new strategies on the ice. As we know Babcock has implemented a system for this young Leafs team that worked very well and you can bet he will be tweaking it as the team continues to move forward.

Hague’s production on the blue line has improved yearly and he’s not about being flashy, he’s a smart puck mover, one that makes the right play the first time and is quick to make that decision. One thing to note is Hague’s shot, he has a boomer from the point when he wants to let it go but he also has a hard and accurate snapshot that seems to find its way to the net (similar to Cody Franson). As we know, sometimes it’s all about getting the puck on net through a heavy screen or creating offensive chances with a rebound off a hard shot.

What I like most about Hague is that he is a very big body who can skate and has no problem mixing it up with the opposition. Whether that’s fighting, hitting or moving a body to create space in front of his goalie. We need young, strong, ferocious defenders who play a nasty game with some edge. I like the thought of Hague being a warrior in front of the Leafs net taking no crap from any meatheads. There looks to be a number of smaller high talented forwards on the Leafs roster now and in the future so having some large bodies on defence will bode well for the team.

Hague had 46 points in 65 games for the Mississauga Steelheads in his second year of OHL hockey, also adding a juicy 107 penalty minutes.

Do you think Nicolas Hague should be on the Maple Leafs radar?

Ilya Kovalchuk:

There is absolutely no way the Leafs will be going after Kovalchuk. He’s washed up from the player he was years ago when he “retired” from the NHL to go play in the KHL. He basically quit on Lou Lamoriello and the New Jersey Devils and that to me is the last thing the Leafs want to add to their team; a quitter.

All the progress Babcock has made with the young guns and their superior work ethic could all be lost with a player like Kovalchuk added to the roster.

Forget Kovalchuk!