“It was very nice. We’d watch a clip of, like, a breakout or something. It would be an important game. The screen will go black. And they wanted to hear what you thought happened next to test how you see the game,” explains Toronto’s top draft pick Fraser Minten. “It was probably something where I had an advantage over other people — and some of the clips I recognized from watching hockey all season and I already knew the results. I think that’s one area where I’m good at understanding what’s going on.” What the Maple Leafs draft strategy is all about is finding players with high ceilings who think the game as well as they play it. “Especially with the pace of the game and what we expect from players in our system, if they can’t think the game through, they’re going to really struggle in games and what we do developmentally,” GM Kyle said. Dubas, after selecting five prospects who still need years of seasoning. “(When) we look back five, 10 years from now, we want to say we got the absolute best player available — regardless of whether they made the NHL at 23, 24, 27.” Meet the new hope. Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 Draft Class: Never. 38, C Fraser MintNo. 95, RW Nick MoldenhauerNo. 122, G Dennis Hildeby No. 135, LW Nikita Grebyonkin No. 218, C Brandon Lisowsky — luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) July 8, 2022

Fraser Minten, C, 38th

When the Maple Leafs moved up in the first round to shed Petr Mrazek’s contract, they were thrilled that Fraser Minten was still on the board at 38. “This couldn’t have worked out any better for us,” enthused Trade-Down Dubas. “A little fortune.” Minten is what Dubas describes as an “intriguing” choice. The Kamloops Blazers center is extremely intelligent and should benefit from his team hosting the 2023 Memorial Cup. “But the other part is he hasn’t played at a high level of hockey for so long. And so, he doesn’t come from a family that is deeply rooted in hockey or has a huge hockey background. He has carved his own path that way,” explains Dubas. Minten is a delight to talk to. He’s a classically trained concert pianist who gets more fired up playing the keyboard than on the ice. “It’s such an individual thing. When you play an instrument in front of a ton of people and you mess up, everyone can hear it. On the ice, you have five guys behind you to catch a mistake, and it’s kind of fluid. That’s the way hockey is — there are a lot of mistakes and you read and react. Whereas for piano, you have to hit every note, otherwise everyone knows,” he said. The Vancouver native devours every Canucks game and tries to model his game after Bo Horvat. He is defensively responsible, a bit stingy and anticipates the game better than most. “It’s not a chore for me to watch hockey. I like watching complete games,” Minten said. “I’ll sit there after practice to watch the four o’clock game, I’ll watch the seven o’clock game. Get what I can out of it. “I’m always on the right side defensively and I capitalize to create attack.” Minten realizes that it needs time to grow and must gather the advantages. Forwards estimate he’s still two or three years away from making it to the NHL, but he’s already considering a GM career when the game is over. “Very smart, very competitive, knows how to win. Watching him in the playoffs a lot, he had a great run in the playoffs. I will be a captain there at some point. I just love everything about his game,” said Wes Clark, the Leafs’ director of amateur scouting. “Really impressive kid. He really understands the game and understands it.”

Nicholas Moldenhauer, RW, 95th

You can still see the scar. It sweeps from the bottom of the candidate’s left ear, along his jaw, to his chin. An opponent’s skate blade cut Moldenhauer’s face when Chicago Steel was playing Team USA’s under-18 team. “It was definitely a scary moment,” Moldenhauer recalled Friday, moments after being drafted by his hometown team. “I think we spent it as a family, not just me. A lot of people helped me get through it – they just made sure I was in the right frame of mind. Definitely a tough time, but I think it’s developed me as a person and will also help me move forward.” Although Moldenhauer already has a Borje Salming look, this Mississauga-born Maple Leafs fan grew up rooting for Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. (Feel old?) “I’ve lived in Toronto my whole life, so it’s incredible for my hometown to pick me,” said Moldenhauer, after a huge blast from his supportive family in the Bell Center stands. “They were just as excited as I was, if not more. We were all happy to be able to share this moment together and it was just a super cool experience.” The winger prides himself on his ability to create scoring chances and read his teammates. He expects to return to the USHL — where he had 18 goals and 43 points in 43 games last season — before deciding on an NCAA school. A number of high-level programs desire the forward, which makes Dubas comfortable with his development. “Very smart, very competitive, likes to play in net,” assesses Clark. “He can score and he can play.” The Maple Leafs believe that scar allowed Moldenhauer to slip them to No. 95. “One of the most horrific cuts you’ll ever see on a player,” Dubas said. “I think that affected his year and affected his draft. Now he just needs to keep putting in the work and get back to the player he was, which he showed in the under-18s with Canada, then fly back and play with Chicago in the playoffs.”

Dennis Hildeby, G, 122nd

There’s a sense that the general manager is tired of discussing the organization’s uneven history when it comes to drafting and developing bona fide NHL netminders. “That’s great to talk about, but we need them to continue to develop and start moving up to the AHL roster and then the NHL roster,” Dubas said. “But Dennis Hildeby from Färjestad was a player that (goal scout) Jon Elkin recognized very early in the year. It’s a bit of a different road. He’s a little older, but he had a good season this year in the SHL.” The 20-year-old Swedish goaltender has been drafted twice, but Elkin was so enamored with the potential, Dubas traded his 2023 fourth-round pick to land the netminder. The mobile Hildeby stands a towering 6-foot-6 and posted a .930 save percentage in seven games last year. “I know he’s a bit older but he’ll be in a good position there at Färjestad next year in a dual role,” Clark said. “We’ll see what happens after that, but we like what we see.”

Nikita Grebenkin, LW, 135th

Here is a fifth round flyer. Grebenkin — a 19-year-old 6-foot-2 Russian winger — is expected to take a longer route to the NHL and had already passed in the 2021 draft. He scored 17 goals and 47 assists in 58 games with Magnitogorsk’s junior team, plus 13 points in nine playoff games. He was called up for just one KHL game and has represented Russia at every age group. “We tried to do as much work as we could on his situation, what he wanted, and then with where we had him on our pick list, the decision was made, ‘Let’s pick him,’” Dubas said. The word from Toronto’s eyes abroad: engineering. “He looks like a machine and he can make plays,” Clark said. “He will go and try to fight for a place there in Magnitogorsk. We’ll see what happens here in the next couple of years. But? Engineer. Well, we like that. We like competitiveness.”

Brandon Lisowsky, C/LW, 218th

Toronto WHL scouts Darren Ritchie and Garth Malarchuk have been huge supporters of this 5-foot-5 Saskatoon Blades forward. They pushed for Lisowsky to be graded higher than the seventh-round slot in which he was selected. The Port Coquitlam, BC, native enjoyed a breakout campaign, scoring 33 goals and 58 points in 68 games. He was also points-per-game in the postseason. The Leafs like his streak, but want Lisowsky to improve his skating. They’ll take a look at development camp, which begins July 15, and then let Lisowsky continue to improve his game with the Blades. “Obviously he can score, which is a great attribute,” Dubas said. “Hopefully he’s one of the seventh-round picks that everyone looks at and he does well.”