Upcoming draft to be an interesting one for Mapleleafs

CLUTCH Draft Class 2005--Leaf Edition









The upcoming "Alexander Ovechkin" Entry draft will take place this Sunday, and its a safe to say that the most anxious team to get this going is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs have no less than 3 first round picks. #'s 1, 7 and 12.

Year: 2006: BLA 1, JAC 1, WIL 1, BRU 2, MAP 3, SHA 4

Not bad for one of the top teams in the league last season.

So after the Ovechkin pick, what do the Leafs go after talent wise?

The Leafs could select any one of the following group for their 7th pick.

3 Cam Barker D Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
5 Blake Wheeler R Breck School (Minn.)
7 Rostislav Olesz C Vitkovice HC (Czech)
9 Ladislav Smid D Liberec Bili Tygri HC
11 Lauri Tukonen R Blues (FNL)
13 Drew Stafford R U. of North Dakota
15 Alexander Radulov R Tver (Russia)
17 Marek Schwarz G Sparta Praha (Czech) H.S.]
19 Lauri Korpikoski C TPS Jrs. (Finland)

While both Barker and Wheeler would be nice additions, Stafford Olesz and Radulov will be getting long looks.

the next group has some nice players in it

21 Wojtek Wolski L Brampton Battalion (OHL)
23 Andrej Meszaros D Dukla Trencin (Slovak)
25 Rob Schremp C London Knights (OHL)
27 Jeff Schultz D Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
29 Mike Green D Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
31 Johannes Salmonsson W Djurgardens IF Stockholm (SEL)
33 Christopher Bourque C Cushing Academy [Mass H.S.]
35 Logan Stephenson D Tri-City Americans (WHL)

Wolsko and Bourque have been approached by Leaf management already, and rumors are swirling about Rob Schremp as well.

Will the team draft based on positional needs or take the best talent out there??
At least we know one thing, they will have a new LW'er from the Moscow Dynamo on the team after this is all said and done.