At the 2026 NHL Draft Combine, Maple Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Leach discussed the evaluation process, the opportunity to draft 1OA, working under John Chayka, and his thoughts on Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, and Chase Reid.
How many players have you interviewed over the last week or so?
Leach: Well, we take advantage of the opportunity to have all of these players here. We will go through roughly 65 interviews throughout the whole week. It won’t be everyone, but a chunk of them. It is good information. We can do a background check on the kids and put it in our computer system for future situations.
What does it mean to be entrusted with the first-overall pick?
Leach: I’ve been in the business for 32 years, and this is the first time ever. The highest pick was fourth a few years ago. It is unique. It is special.
I don’t want it every year… No, it is unique. Very unique.
Did your thoughts go to one player after the lottery win?
Leach: No, it did not go to one player. We have to go in and do our due diligence, do background checks on these kids, research more, and do more film work and more of everything. It doesn’t go to one player. There is a group of players who are high-end and have good potential.
Is there a danger in overthinking the first-overall pick?
Leach: You can overthink any pick you make, really. Our guys have done their job. They’ve dug in. They’ve seen all of these top-end players quite a bit. They’ll be ready for the pick when it comes.
With the change in leadership, you are now looking at players through the lens of John Chayka instead of Brad Treliving. How does that affect things?
Leach: There really is not a pivot. When you are picking this high, these high-end players are all very skilled. They’re elite players. You are really not looking at it through a different lens. You discuss it with John a lot — what he wants, and what his philosophy and thought process are a little bit.
What have you learned about Gavin McKenna?
Leach: Great kid. Good family. Good people. Driven. He is a mature kid. He wants to win, as all of these kids do. He is just a real fine young man.
Where do you see the maturity shine through?
Leach: I just see it in the way he handles himself, the way he handles himself with the media, and the way he is as a kid. He has been under the spotlight for the last few years. It is not an easy thing to go through as a 16- or 17-year-old kid. He has done a good job.
What do you make of his decision, and that of many other kids, to leave the CHL for the NCAA?
Leach: It is an opportunity for kids — if they feel they are ready to go — to play against older men. The competition is much older; a lot of times, there are 23-or 24-year-old young men playing. They’re physically mature. They don’t play as many games as they do in the CHL, but the games are a little bit harder because there are only 36, 37, or 38 games. It is a good path. It is a good challenge that prepares kids for pro life a little bit better.
Do you think it helped Gavin McKenna as well?
Leach: I think any kid who goes from CHL to college will find it a little hard to begin with. You have to understand you are playing against older, bigger, stronger men. In the second half, he did a heck of a job. He really popped.
Did you ask Gavin about the night he got into a bar fight defending his mom?
Leach: I didn’t go into that detail. I have three sons. He did what he did, I guess. I didn’t really dig into that at all. Things happen.
Why didn’t you dig into it?
Leach: I did my due diligence on what we had to do. I just didn’t think it was relevant for us to dig into.
Are you more interested in drafting for positional need or the best player available? Do you value hockey intelligence? Size? What breaks ties?
Leach: I’ve always been a guy who likes size. I’ve always liked size to a point. I also like competitiveness. A kid has to be able to compete to play at the highest level and get the most out of themselves. You’ve got to be competitive. They can all skate. They all have skill. They all have some good IQ. You have to be able to mix it all together.
You can’t teach certain skill sets. That is hard to find.
How would you assess McKenna’s competitiveness?
Leach: Very [high]. He wants to win. He had a great year in juniors the year before and had great success. Talking with the coaches, he is a guy who wants to get better every day. He drags guys into the fight, if you will, not only in the games but also in practice. He makes them get there early and stay later. Those are special people when they bring people into the fight like that. He has the ability to do that.
What has made this process unique this year after 30-plus years of doing it?
Leach: Nothing different. We do the same process. We go in and dig in on the kids. We do a background check. We talk to everybody from the trainers to the weight room guy to the coaches — maybe even their midget coaches.
It doesn’t really change the process. Throughout the process, you [approach] every kid the same way. You have to find out where they are at. These guys are (potential) number-one picks, but we do the same thing if we’re picking in the sixth or seventh round. We try to find a diamond in the rough.
Has anyone surprised you so far?
Leach: No, these kids are pretty well-versed in what they’re doing. They’re mature. Sometimes, their agents kind of prep them a little bit, but we have some things where we make them laugh. Hopefully, we make them more comfortable in the atmosphere so we can get good answers to the questions.
When you look back at some of the players you picked in the last draft, even though they’re not really in your department anymore, you must be pleased?
Leach: Yeah, I am happy with the development. There is a process these kids have to go through. It is a path. Sometimes, the problem is that we want results too quickly. It is important to let these kids develop and let them evolve.
[Tinus-Luc Koblar] is going to have another good year next year. He’ll come over. Where does he end up? We’ll see what happens.
Have you gone deep into the weeds on a player like Stenberg?
Leach: Yes, we have. For all of those top-end kids in the draft, we’ve dug in and done our diligence on them. We’ve found out what their background is a little bit. We’ve watched them play at different levels. We’ve watched Stenebrg play at the men’s Worlds and things like that. We do our job on these kids.
What are your thoughts on Stenberg?
Leach: Highly skilled, highly creative, mature, and he plays at a high pace. He really just goes about his business like a pro.
When you look at the defensemen who have separated themselves from the group, are there any commonalities there? Where are they different?
Leach: If they all have one thing, it’s that they’re smart. Their skill set is good. They make plays. They’re creative. And they can all skate. They’re very, very competitive.
Defense in the NHL is very hard. It’s a long process to be the best you can be. Most of the guys take quite a while to max out what they could be. I am talking, not until they’re 27 or 28 sometimes. It is a hard position.
They all have competitiveness. They all have very good skill sets.
What stands out about Chase Reid, in particular?
Leach: His ability to skate and handle a puck. He can drive the offense. He is very good on the power play as well. His skating is special; he is mobile and covers a lot of ice out there. He has good vision. He has good potential.
Is the fact that Alberts Smits played in the Olympics and World Championships a proof of concept? You’ve been able to see what he looks like against NHL talent. Is he graded on a curve when you’ve already seen what he might look like in the NHL?
Leach: He is a mature kid. He is physically mature. He’s strong. He handles himself well against men. We’ve seen him play in different leagues against men and in the Olympics. He is pretty close to having a good chance to play very quickly because he is so physically strong.
Now, at that level, he may not show as much offense because he is playing against men in those leagues. You don’t want to make mistakes. When you make mistakes as a young person, sometimes, you end up on the bench. You tend to play a little bit safer. But he has a very good future and a very good upside.
There might be players who are ready to step in now, and others who won’t be ready for a few years, but they might have higher upside than those who are ready now. Has that stood out to you as a factor yet?
Leach: There are kids who, if they wait a few more years and get stronger and more mature physically, can step in in a couple of years and be better off. Others are ready to play and have a good chance of playing. That is up to the coaches and the GM of those organizations, and ours as well.
What are you looking at as far as the testing part of the combine?
Leach: Just their physical fitness, really. Our strength coach will be here. The guys will be here. They’ll go over that a little more in detail. That is their forte, if you will. They’ll do that. We take it and absorb the information, but it is not going to make or break a player.
