Opinion | 13 Musings: Rethinking the Leafs’ 2018 draft, plus Salming’s numbers and an awkward moment

The 2018 NHL draft is starting to look just fine for the Maple Leafs.

That was the year Rasmus Sandin went in the first round, and he seems to have proven worthy of the pick. He had a goal and an assist in Monday’s 4-2 win over Detroit, and more or less seems to be thriving with greater responsibility heaped upon him.

Teams typically like to hit on two players every draft. A first-round pick is usually money; it’s who comes after that’s the crapshoot. It’s taken some time, but the Leafs appear to have hit on a few from 2018. Defenceman Sean Durzi will always be the one who got away — sent to L.A. in the Jake Muzzin deal. No complaints either way with how that worked for both teams.

But now creeping into the Leafs lineup: defenceman Mac Hollowell and centre Pontus Holmberg. Hollowell picked up his first NHL assist against Detroit, and truly hasn’t seemed out of place in his four games in the NHL. Holmberg got his first two goals on the four-game road trip and slid seamlessly into a third-line centre role.

Hollowell was a fourth-rounder, Holmberg a sixth-rounder that year. And then there’s Filip Král, who’s injured now but has played two games and would probably be playing ahead of Hollowell had he not gotten hurt.

There’s one other hope from the 2018 draft: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, with 12 points in 18 games with the Marlies. He remains a long-shot.

That should make up for the 2017 draft that produced Timothy Liljegren and little else. The biggest second hope from that one was oft-injured goalie Ian Scott, who retired after multiple injury setbacks.

And the 2019 draft seems rather thin, too, largely because they didn’t have a first-rounder. Nick Robertson and Nick Abruzzese have played, and Robertson has the best shot to be an impact player. Mikhail Abramov and Mikko Kokkonen are, like Abruzzese, with the Marlies.

The cap-tight Leafs need homegrown talent to move into important positions, if only because their salaries are more controllable than free agents.

If you have a question, email me at [email protected] and I’ll answer it in the next Mailbag. Now to the 13 Musings.

1. Sheldon Keefe pointed out that on the day before Börje Salming died, the Leafs played their 21st game of the season, a 2-1 win, and a Swede — Holmberg — scored his first NHL goal, a game-winner at that.

2. Nick Lidstrom wore No. 5 through his career because that was Salming’s number on Sweden’s national team. Mark Giordano wore No. 5 for most of his career because of Lidstrom. (That number is retired in Toronto, so neither Salming nor Giordano could wear it.)

3. No one has quite popped into a role this year the way Michael Bunting did last year, but Holmberg is close.

4. Hollowell’s nickname is Big Mac. He is five-foot-nine and 170 pounds, one of the smallest defencemen in the NHL.

5. Gotta think the end of the road is near for Wayne Simmonds. He cleared waivers the same day Minnesota gave up a fifth-round pick for Ryan Reaves. They essentially play the same role, and the Wild could have had Simmonds for free.

6. Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said he expects Simmonds will have to clear waivers the rest of the season. Waivers last for 30 days.

7. When Mitch Marner was talking about his dog, Zeus, I asked what kind of dog it was. He seemed surprised to have to answer that. “Get on the ’Gram,” he told me, laughing. Chocolate Lab, it turns out.

8. Ex-Penguin Zach Aston-Reese was asked what it was like playing against his old team. “It’s just awkward. It’s kind of like going to dinner with your ex-girlfriend.”

9. Been sitting on this one for a while, for no other reason than I didn’t know what to do with it, but in case you were wondering: Bunting’s favourite Ninja Turtle was Michelangelo.

10. An average Igor Shesterkin is exposing the New York Rangers as a very average team.

11. The Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens are the only teams exceeding expectations.

12. The Red Wings have been a pleasant surprise, too, but coach Derek Lalonde doesn’t want to hype playoff expectations: “I don’t know how realistic talking about playoffs is right now. Not to discredit our group; they’ve gotten everything they’ve deserved to this point. It’s more to do with where this Eastern Conference is. It’s going to take 100-plus points the way it’s trending to get in the playoffs right now.”

13. Heard this from a rival club member: “Pierre Engvall plays like it’s beer league. Never hits anyone.” Good line, but the Leafs have made peace with what Engvall is as a player. If a 5-9 player could do what he does, he’d be a favourite. It’s only because he’s 6-5 that folks want him to hit.

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