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Being that we rely on second-hand reports and highlight clips for many of these prospects, especially for those playing overseas, we can’t really evaluate new Leaf William Nylander on a game in-game out basis, but maybe we can all agree Dave Nonis, Dave Morrison and the draft team seemed to have the right philosophy when approaching their eighth overall pick last night.

After the draft, Nonis spoke about high-end skill up front as an area of weakness in contrast to a more loaded pipeline on the backend. He addressed the size concerns with a sound rationale and emphasized the high-end skill and upside of the selection:

“He’s grown a lot in the last 12 months. Compared to tape of him a year ago he’s taller, he’s thicker. There’s a lot of work left to do there for him, but in terms of foot speed, puck skills, ability to shoot the puck, he’s got all those down now… Against Canada [in the U18s], when things were difficult and they kind of ran at him a little bit, one of the things we were looking for was to see if he was going to shrink at all. That wasn’t a factor at all.  I think he was trying to prove a point that he’s not going to be a kid who is going to be intimidated.

“He’s electrifying. He has NHL speed, NHL hands, NHL shot right now. It’s about whether the rest of his game can catch up.”

Enter the Leafs’ development staff. There’s certain things that can be taught and certain things that can’t. Big bonus if the Leafs can bring him along as a center.

From Sweden-based scout Uffe Bodin of Elite Prospects:

 

Day Two

Onto day two, when it would sure be nice to find a way into the 2nd round. Said Nonis of the possibility:

“We’ve talked to a couple of teams about possibly acquiring a second round pick. I wouldn’t be shocked if that happens. If not, we’ll pass the second and we’ll have to do some damage in the 3rd and the two 4ths that we have.”

The Leafs‘ selections as of this posting are as follows:

Maple Leafs 2014 Draft Selections

RndPickOverallTeamPlayerPosCountryHeightWeightAmateur LeagueAmateur Team
188TORWILLIAM NYLANDERC/WCAN5' 11"169SWEDENMODO
3868TORRINAT VALIEVDRUS6'1"190WHLKootenay
4494TORTRADED
413103TORJOHN PICCINICHRWUSA6'0"190USHL Youngstown
Committed to Boston College
58128TORDAKOTA JOSHUACUSA6'2"185USHLSioux Falls
68158TORNOLAN VESEYLWUSA6'1"198USPHLSouth Shore
Committed to Maine
78188TORPIERRE ENGVALLWSWE6'4"201SuperElitFrolunda J20

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Alec Brownscombe is the founder and editor of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He's published five magazines on the team entitled "The Maple Leafs Annual" with distribution in Chapters and newsstands across the country. He also co-hosted "The Battle of the Atlantic," a weekly show on TSN1200 that covered the Leafs and the NHL in-depth. Alec is a graduate of Trent University and Algonquin College with his diploma in Journalism. In 2014, he was awarded Canada's Best Hockey Blogger honours by Molson Canadian. You can contact him at alec.brownscombe@mapleleafshotstove.com.