Blue And White Beat: 2006 draft paying dividends
Former Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. was all but exiled out of Toronto after his tenure at the helm of the hockey organization produced disastrous results. From Ed Belfour’s exorbitant contract, to ill-fated acquisitions of Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala, rarely did any transactions sealed with Ferguson’s stamp turn out to materialize in the Leafs’ favour.
But, it seems that Ferguson did get things right, on one summer day in 2006.
At the draft table at General Motors Place in Vancouver (since renamed Rogers Arena), Toronto selected the left-winger on its current top line and also a top-notch goaltending prospect, while two other choices were eventually parlayed into a trade for a Stanley Cup champion.
With the Leafs second-round selection that year, they took Nikolai Kulemin from Magnitogorsk, Russia. At only 24 years of age, he is currently the longest-tenured forward in Toronto’s lineup. Playing alongside Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur on the team’s top forward unit, Kulemin has found a nose for the net, already establishing career-best totals of 18 goals and 37 points, with still thirty games left to go in the Leafs season.
Meanwhile, much of the buzz around Air Canada Centre this past month has revolved around goalie James Reimer, Toronto’s third-round pick in 2006 from the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels. Factors such as the Leafs’ beleaguered defence, injuries to fellow netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere and the inconsistency of backup Jonas Gustavsson vaulted Reimer into the glare of the spotlight.
In nine starts, Reimer has solidified himself as the franchise’s best goaltending draftee since Felix Potvin in 1990, compiling a 5-4 record with a superb save percentage of .929. The victory included his first career NHL shutout last Thursday, getting the better of one-time Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cam Ward in a goaltenders’ duel.
“It’s a personal accomplishment that you want to get some time,” said a beaming Reimer after the 27-save performance that earned him first-star recognition. “I didn’t really think it was going to come this soon, or I really wasn’t expecting it.” A whirlwind tour of duty that has seen Reimer shuffle back and forth between the Leafs and the AHL Marlies may have finally culminated in a full-time position for the backstop with the parent club. His calming presence perpetuates throughout his teammates playing in front of him (that is, if you don’t count Saturday night’s game when the Leafs team as a whole were inflicted with their regular Buffalo-flu bug.)
Two of Toronto’s top five picks from 5 years ago are no longer with the organization. First-rounder Jiri Tlusty was shipped to Carolina for Philippe Paradis. Subsequently Paradis, plus 2006 fifth-round selection Viktor Stalberg were packaged with Chris Didomenico to Chicago, with Kris Versteeg – fresh off a Stanley Cup victory in the Windy City – finding himself in a Leafs uniform.
Versteeg isn’t – nor was ever expected to – produce first-line numbers. However, his special teams’ versatility is evident as he has become the one of the team’s point-men on the top power-play unit while filling an occasional penalty killing role. Perhaps not-so coincidentally, the Leafs are 11-0-2 when Versteeg scores a goal. Current general manager Brian Burke of course gets full marks for the trade, but props go out to Ferguson for selecting two of the 3 prospects that allowed the deal to be consummated.
Toronto’s fourth-round pick from 2006 Korbinian Holzer, remains in the organization, enjoying a two-game recall to the Leafs earlier in the year while having logged most of his time this season with the Marlies. Holzer has competed for his native Germany in hockey’s three biggest international tournaments; the Olympics, the World Championships, and World Junior Championships.
Ex GM-Ferguson will be haunted for the deals he made – such as trading Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft, and even for the trades he didn’t make – like not dealing for then-Oilers superstar Chris Pronger after refusing to give up Alexander Steen, who was included in the asking price along with blueliner Tomas Kaberle and deemed to be indispensable.
However, a single draft day five years ago has directly or indirectly produced three active contributing players on the Leafs roster.
For that snapshot in time, Ferguson deserves his due credit.
Rob Del Mundo is the author of Blue And White Beat, and is a regular columnist at TMLfans.ca
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