Once more, the Maple Leafs success in the regular season gave them confidence heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it also means their first-round pick will be a later one. We now know they will hold the 23rd overall pick in a relatively top-heavy 2024 NHL Draft, and now reporter Steven Ellis has revealed five intriguing names that Toronto could target at the spot.
The five options presented are; Aron Kiviharju, defenseman from Liiga, Beckett Sennecke, right winger from the Oshawa Generals, Terik Parascak of the WHL, Sacha Boisvert of the USHL and Andrew Bascha of the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Unfortunately for Toronto, none of these names appear to be immediate impact players, with all of them likely being labeled as long-term projects to potentially build for the future. One piece that wasn't mentioned here was goaltending, as the Maple Leafs are clearly in need of a top prospect coming through the organization, as it appears former top prospect Joseph Woll is now headed to be the team's No. 1 option moving forward.
With the team looking to go for it once more in 2024-25, there's also a possibility that the Maple Leafs look to move this pick in order to find blue line help, but it's all up to the intriguing direction this team want to take this summer. However, if they can land any of the five names mentioned above at No. 23 overall, it's safe to say that they'll be incredibly happy with the return at that pick.
