With the Nashville Predators advancing to the Western Conference Final today, the Maple Leafs draft position for the 2017 NHL Entry Draft in Chicago has been officially set at 17th overall.
A brief history of the 17th overall draft selection:
History of the 17th overall pick, 2000-2016
| Draft | 17th pick | GP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dante Fabbro | ||
| 2015 | Kyle Connor | 20 | 5 |
| 2014 | Travis Sanheim | ||
| 2013 | Curtis Lazar | 180 | 39 |
| 2012 | Tomas Hertl | 249 | 124 |
| 2011 | Nathan Beaulieu | 225 | 60 |
| 2010 | Joey Hishon | 13 | 2 |
| 2009 | David Runblad | 113 | 25 |
| 2008 | Jake Gardiner | 407 | 163 |
| 2007 | Alexei Cherepanov | ||
| 2006 | Trevor Lewis | 506 | 113 |
| 2005 | Martin Hanzal | 628 | 326 |
| 2004 | Marek Schwarz (G) | 6 | |
| 2003 | Zach Parise | 830 | 661 |
| 2002 | Boyd Gordon | 706 | 161 |
| 2001 | Carlo Colaiacovo | 470 | 157 |
| 2000 | Alexei Mikhnov | 2 |
It’s not an outstanding list, but the history of pick #17 between 2000-2012 includes eight NHL players out of 11 picks (excluding Alexei Cherepanov). There is one star player on the list in Zach Parise, who was taken in an exceptional draft year (2003). There is a good NHL defenceman in Jake Gardiner, while Carlo Colaiacovo also had some good years early in his career and had the potential for more if not for injuries. There is also a pair of depth forwards who had long NHL careers on the list in Trevor Lewis and Boyd Gordon, and a few reasonably productive middle-six forwards in Tomas Hertl and Martin Hanzal. It remains to be seen what he becomes, but 2015 pick Kyle Connor destroyed the Big-10 in his draft plus-one season and had a good rookie year in the AHL in 2016-17, a season which included a 20-game stint in the NHL.
Based on Canuck Army’s aggregated draft rankings from late March, which consolidates ten of the most prominent publicly available draft lists, here is a look at the bottom half of the first round (here are the full rankings with player writeups):
We’ll dive into a number of these prospects over the coming six weeks as we prepare for the 2017 draft. For now, have your say below:
