Corey Pronman of The Athletic posted his NHL Pipeline Rankings and it should come as no surprise that the Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves in the lower-third of the league. Pronman has them ranked 27th ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Boston Bruins.
The common theme with the bottom of the ranking is that most - if not all - are Stanley Cup contenders and have been for quite some time. Trading picks, especially first rounders at the trade deadline, is the name of the game if you're serious about contending and it's tough to jump up these rankings when you don't have a Connor Bedard, Matvei Michkov, or successive losing seasons.
The Maple Leafs might not have a generational talent in their pipeline but still have good prospects in Matthew Knies, Fraser Minten, Topi Niemela, Roni Hirvonen and Easton Cowan, among others.
With an NHL roster that boasts Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares, a losing season is out of the question and therefore so is a high first round selection. In saying that, the Leafs have only drafted in the first round once over the last 3 seasons and have selected a grand total of just 11 prospects in that time span.
