Ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft, Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Leach discussed preparation for a decentralized draft without a first-round pick, prioritizing size on defense, working under Brad Treliving, and Ben Danford’s development.
What is the preparation like for a draft where you aren’t picking until #64 and there are possibilities of movement up or down in the order?
Leach: One thing about it is that you just have to be prepared for anything. We have been meeting for the last couple of days as a staff. We will just get our list ready and see what falls. Right now, picking #64, it kind of takes care of itself.
As Tre said, if we move up or move down, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. We are just getting prepared for whatever might happen. We are just prepared. We don’t look at it as a “draft where we don’t have a first-round pick” type of thing. We have to be prepared for all sorts of things that could happen.
Are you thinking about the long-term project with the player, or is it about value at the position?
Leach: Personally, you take the best available player talent-wise at that pick. When you get down to #64 and that area, these players take a little longer to develop, or it is maybe not a straight line to get where they want to go from A to B. You just be patient with them, be patient with the development, and see where they end up in a few years.
These kids, most of them, are three to five years away. The top picks in the draft have the best chance, but after that, it is a process.
Is there a specific type of player you’d like to take at #64?
Leach: I am just looking for the best available talent and a guy who competes and works hard. It is really about what falls. At that point in the draft, there will be kids who have little issues in their game. If there weren’t, they would be in the top 10. But they all have some talent and some elite level that helps them out and we’ll try to pick up and get to.
Are you able to quantify what the talent pool is like in terms of depth in the draft compared to past years?
Leach: In the draft in general, there is a very good group at the top end — the top 15. After that, you get to the depth of the draft, which is where you might get the same player in the third round that you would get in the late second. There are multiple people who are pretty good, but they all have a little wart. But they might end up with something.
How many prospects did you interview for intel purposes?
Leach: I direct our staff to make contact with all players in their region. They are responsible for interviewing everybody, getting intel, talking to the coaches, and putting it in our memory bank — our computer system — for future reference. That is what every guy in their region has to do, no matter what league, Europe, or North America. That is their job.
How much do you weigh a player’s personality compared to their on-ice skill?
Leach: We dig into the personality and do background checks. It is very important what the family upbringing is and where they came from. We talk to coaches and trainers. We try to find out as much as we can about the player. You find things out that are interesting. It is part of our job.
How big of a challenge is it to identify competitiveness? Obviously, you can see skill, but on the teams that go deep in the playoffs, they seem to have the guys who have a little extra. How difficult is it to identify at the prospect level?
Leach: It is a great question. You have to watch a player play in key situations and key games. Playoff hockey is very important. How do they compete in those high-end games with big end results, hopefully, for these kids?
Watching them in play key moments and key situations, you get a feel for whether they are competitive or if they kind of [fall] off a little bit. The more you do it and the longer you do it, it helps you.
Long term, how do you think drafting and development might change with players from major junior now able to go to college rather than finish their career in major junior?
Leach: I think it will help some of these young men out. One reason is that they are 19 or 20, and they have to sign to go to the American league. It is very difficult. You are asking these kids to play against men who are 27 or 28 and are veteran pro hockey players.
Having that avenue to go to college, they might get an extra couple of years of development. Maybe they are 21 or 22, and they are a little bit more prepared for life and the challenges of playing against the pro league. It takes some time.
I think that is what you are going to find with these kids who go to college for a few years. They will be more prepared for the pro life and the pro game.
What are your thoughts on decentralizing the draft? Does it affect what you do at all?
Leach: It doesn’t affect too much of what we do.
Tre mentioned it — you won’t be able to go up and talk to another team right there on the table. The other thing that has come about is that if you are very interested in a player, you tend to have the ability to meet with them again. We can’t do that where we would meet them, some place in a hotel or wherever you are. We can’t do that now. That is a little bit of a curveball.
We have done Covid times. We will do what we have to do. We have done a lot of Zoom calls with these players. It is what it is.
When you are looking at defensemen, how important is size?
Leach: Well, look at the playoffs. Florida has a big team. You have two months of grind. Size is a factor, but also, a big heart and a complete level can do something. But I do like size. No question about it.
Do you think it takes a specific personality to work in a big market like Toronto? How do you measure that?
Leach: I think these kinds are a lot more worldly than they were 20 years ago. In their youth hockey growing up, they travel all around the world playing and developing.
This being a big market is no different than New York or Detroit. Florida had 500,000 people at the parade. They are always under the gun. The media, with the way it is today, is what it is. There is going to be pressure no matter where they play.
Do you hear any hesitance from players about playing in Toronto compared to Dallas?
Leach: No, I have not heard any problem with it. There is something to the Original Six. A lot of kids want to play for Original Six teams. There is definitely something about it that is special and unique.
What is the biggest difference you have noticed working for the Stars compared to the Leafs?
Leach: Umm, media.
No, really, there is no difference. We go about our business the same way. I was fortunate to work for Jim Nill in Dallas and Detroit. There is no real difference for me. We just go about our business on the amateur side, do what we do, and prepare.
During the interview process, do you like to put kids on the spot, or do you try to get them to talk more about themselves?
Leach: We ask them more about what type of people they are, the family background, the type of player they think they are at the NHL level, how soon they will play in the NHL — little questions like that can get on something.
If we have a little funny thing for them, we will find out from a teammate and try to zing them if we can.
How close is Ben Danford to making the jump in the NHL?
Leach: Ben is a very good player. He has a good skill set. He is getting stronger every day. He had a really good playoff run.
I think he is a young man who needs time and maturity to play in the pro game. It doesn’t happen overnight. You are asking a 19 or 20-year-old to play against men. It is hard. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
He could take a year, or two, or three. We will just see how he does when he gets there.
What stands out about Brad Treliving’s management style?
Leach: He just lets us do our job. He inquires about players and personnel, but he lets us do our job, dig in on players, and prepare. He lets us do our job.
