From Chaos Came Brilliance
Really, it should have been anything but a moment of brilliance.
After all, the Maple Leafs, in June of 2014, were an NHL team in turmoil. The Brian Burke era had ended 18 months earlier, an episode in Leaf history in which the team had sought to build the toughest team in hockey with a roster full of belligerance, aggressiveness and fighters. Toronto led the league in fights, but it hadn’t led to much success in the standings. In Burke’s first four seasons as general manager the Leafs missed the playoffs and squandered first round picks. They made post-season play in the spring of 2013, just four months after Burke’s surprising dismissal, with his right hand man, Dave Nonis, running the team. With Randy Carlyle behind the bench, James Reimer in goal, Dion Phaneuf as captain and Phil Kessel as the star forward, the Leafs took on Boston in the first round, forced a seventh and deciding game then blew a 4-1 lead in the third period before losing in overtime. The scars of that defeat lasted for years.
In late April, 2013, on the heels of that defeat, CEO Tim Leiweke was hired to run the team. A year later, he hired Brendan Shanahan as team president. The managed 84 points in the 2013-14 season, but missed the playoffs. With Nonis still in charge, it wasn’t clear how much the Leafs were going to deviate from Burke’s pugnacious approach. Shanahan left most of the operation in place and sat back to watch and evaluate. But there was the immediate matter of the 2014 draft in Philadelphia to deal with.
The Leafs had the eighth pick in the draft, But who was going to make the call? Nonis? Shanahan? Chief scout Dave Morrison? With the entire operation bracing for more change, and with Shanahan certain to make substantial changes once he got his feet wet, the 2014 draft threatened to be extremely problematic from an organizationat point of view. The NHL was getting faster and more skilled, but the Leafs had chosen a very different path under Burke. The previous year, with Nonis at the helm, the team had used the 21st pick to select 6-foot-4 Frederik Gauthier, more of a grinder than a skill player. Memories of being pushed around by the Bruins in the ‘13 playoffs still lingered, and in the 2014 draft, many believed the Leafs would go for size and brawn again.
They had the eighth pick. Big, mean junior winger Nick Ritchie was sitting there, ranked seventh by NHL Central Scouting among North American prospects. He seemed to be the likely Toronto pick, a player who might give the Leafs a player similar to Boston’s Milan Lucic. But some in the Leaf organization, including Shanahan, were imagining a different kid of future for the Leafs, one built around skill and speed. European-born players like Kevin Fiala, Nikolai Ehlers and William Nylander were there and likely to be available when the Leafs picked.
Within a year, Nonis, Carlyle and much of the scouting staff would be fired. Kessel would be traded shortly thereafter. But that day in Philly, somehow, history tells us, the Leafs made a brillliant decision to draft Nylander. Not Ritchie, not Ehlers or Fiala. Nine years later, Nylander might be the second best player in the draft behind Leon Draisatl. Coming off Friday’s terrific game in Stockholm against Detroit, and then Sunday’s overtime winning goal against Minnesota, he might be the most popular Swedish player in the world, and a player headed for a massive new contract in freee agency next summer.
It would have been so easy for the Leafs to make a mistake that day in Philadelphia. After all, this was a franchise hardly known for making good decisions with the draft and with young players in general. Nylander had his doubters, although long-time European scout Thommie Bergman pushed hard for him. Nylander’ a father, Michal, was a talented but not always reliable NHLer, and the Leafs were probably in a position as a organization to look for a safe pick, not a big risk. Shanahan had been a tough and talented player during his Hall of Fame career. But his biggest success had come in Detroit with the Red Wings, a team unafraid to prioritize skill above everything else.
Looking back, picking Nylander was a stroke of brilliance. Maybe it was Bergman. Maybe it was the influence of Shanahan. Nonis made the pick, along with Morrison. Maybe it was a lucky decision. That it came as the Leafs were not only in a state of upheaval, but headed towards absolute chaos a year later, made it one of the more remarkable tales in recent Leaf draft history.