The Toronto Maple Leafs had three prospects participating in USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp in Plymouth, Michigan this week and a pair have survived the first roster cut down.
2015 second round pick Jeremy Bracco and 2016 third rounder Joseph Woll are among the 32 players who will participate in the final four days of the camp that will go a long way in determining Team USA’s roster for the upcoming 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Defenseman JD Greenway, the Leafs other third round selection in 2016, did not make the cut.
Bracco was selected 61st overall by the Leafs in 2014 and had 64 points in 49 games with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL last season and put up impressive numbers at the Under-18 Tournament alongside Auston Matthews last year, but did not make Team USA for the 2016 World Junior in Helsinki last December
The 19-year-old Long Island native has three goals in two games and should be a shoo-in for the next WJC Tournament in Toronto and Montreal this December.
Woll is among four goalies who made the cut (Tyler Parsons(CAL), and 2017 draft eligibles Evan Sarthou and Jake Oettinger) and will be attending Boston College University this fall.
Greenway’s older brother Jordan made the first cut, but the 18-year-old defenseman is headed to Wisconsin.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs pick of center Auston Matthews at the NHL Draft in Buffalo in June was the first time the franchise selected first overall since drafting Wendel Clark in 1985.
The drafts since the selection of Clark had a few ups, several downs and many missed chances and opportunities. During the traditionally slow hockey news month of August, we will take a look at the drafts from 1985 to 2015 and see where the Leafs went right and went wrong.
1986 Draft
Rd(Pick)
1(6) Vincent Damphousse C Laval Titan [QMJHL]
2(36) Darryl Shannon D Windsor Compuware Spitfires [OHL]
3(48) Sean Boland D Toronto Marlboros [OHL]
4(69) Kent Hulst C Windsor Compuware Spitfires [OHL]
5(90) Scott Taylor D Kitchener Rangers [OHL]
6(111) Stephane Giguere L St. Jean Beavers [QMJHL]
7(132) Dan Hie C Ottawa 67's [OHL]
8(153) Steve Brennan R New Prep School (Mass.)
9(174) Brian Bellefeuille R Canterbury H.S. (Conn.)
10(195) Sean Davidson R Toronto Marlboros [OHL]
11(216) Mark Holick R Saskatoon Blades [WHL]
12(237) Brian Hoard D Hamilton Steelhawks [OHL]
For the second year in a row, the Maple Leafs cashed in with their first round pick. Damphousse was selected sixth overall in 1986 was the best player picked in the first round other than Hall of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch.
The Quebec native scored 118 goals in five seasons with Toronto before being traded to Edmonton in 1991 along with goalie Peter Ing, defenseman Luke Richardson and forward Scott Thornton for Glenn Anderson, Craig Berube and Grant Fuhr and won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993.
Shannon was a journeyman defenseman who played parts of five seasons with Toronto, before stops in Winnipeg, Buffalo, Atlanta, Calgary and Montreal.
The remaining 10 selections never played a game in the NHL. Boland, Hie, Brennan and Davidson never made it out of junior hockey, Hulst, Taylor, Bellefeuille, Holick and Hoard had minor league careers, while Giguere is the less famous older brother of Cup winner and former Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere who played one season in the International Hockey League before becoming a police officer.
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