Maple Leafs' First-Round Pick Placement Confirmed Following Playoff Elimination

The conclusion of the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs' Game 7 on Sunday night ended in heartbreak for the home team. Outmatched and outgunned, the Leafs bowed out ungraciously with a lot of questions going forward.

It was a miserable night for all involved, and lead to a huge fan outrage that is still being felt a day later. But with that loss to the Panthers, the Maple Leafs ended up helping out the Chicago Blackhawks.

How you may ask?

Well, with that defeat, it secured Toronto's draft selection at the 25th pick, although they won't be able to use it.

That pick is going to be Chicago's 25th pick in the 2025 Draft, a condition of the Jake McCabe trade that occurred during the 2022-23 season.

A win in Toronto would have given the Blackhawks a pick towards the true back end of the draft, and while it's not a premium pick, it could be used to help acerbate their rebuild.

Whether that be through the draft itself, or by trading that pick to either trade up or down and acquire an NHL-ready player on the side in undetermined, but they have a lot to play with.

Not to mention, they might be frontrunners for Mitch Marner too. So packaging that pick and a big contract like Nick Foligno or Jason Dickinson, plus possibly dumping Connor Murphy in the summer would open up a lot money to sign him.

There are several players who could come in and be a good addition to the youth movement come the 2025 Draft.

Names like Bill Zonnon, Malcolm Spence and Cameron Reid are all solid late-round projections who could be future players with the Blackhawks.

Switching gears back to the Maple Leafs for a moment, it shouldn't be lost on them they still ended up winning the trade altogether. McCabe has come in and been elite, and his partnership with Chris Tanev look to back the blue line for years to come.

McCabe has played in 160 games since coming over in the trade, and has 56 points (11G, 45A), 125 PIM, 378 hits, 300 blocks, and a blistering plus-55 rating; McCabe signed a four-year extension earlier this season.

He's as big a part of Toronto's success this year as anyone, and he's set to be part of the team's defense for at least the next few years, where he hopefully won't experience too many more of these heartbreaking losses.

But Chicago reaps the benefits of that loss for now, with the potential to find either a diamond in the rough, or the right player needed to make their team the powerhouse it once used to be.