Standing tall during pride month, Mark Stone has announced will be out for 9 months on LTIR awaiting the birth of her child after identifying as a pregnant woman to circumvent the NHL LTIR rules. As per usual, she will return for the 2027 playoffs after the birth.
Amidst all the noise of the last few days it’s been hard to think about the draft lottery which happens in just a few hours!
I’ve seen some people view the positive side of losing the pick to Boston this year because of how it would affect our future picks.
Whatever the outcome, I do think there will be a lot more speculation about the direction the team should go after tonight’s draft. In my humble opinion there are two paths: 1) Trade Knies/Cowan and other young pieces to try and build around Matthews, Nylander, Reilly again. 2) Trade some combination of Matthews et al to get younger if not a full rebuild by trading them all. If the gun was held to my head to make the decision, I do think I lean toward option 2, mainly because I don’t think we have enough assets in the cupboard to adequately cover the holes and build a contender. That could change depending on how high of a pick the leafs potentially land this evening.
I’m curious what others think the organization should do if:
A) the leafs win the lottery and have 1st overall pick.
B) the leafs win the lottery and have a pick 2-5.
C) the leafs lose the lottery and give their pick to Boston.