Maple Leafs 1984 Draft Review

Posted 3:55 PM ET | Comments 3

We continue our reviews of prior Leafs drafts with the 1984 draft held in Montreal on June 9, 1984.

Legend: GP=Games Played, G= Goals, A= Assists, PTS= Points,
W= Wins, L= Losses, T= Ties, GAA=Goals Against Average, SO= Shutouts

4th Overall Pick- Al Iafrate (Defensemen)

Leafs Regular Season Stats: GP- 472 G- 81 A- 169 PTS- 250
Leafs Playoff Stats: GP- 29 G- 4 A- 10 PTS- 14

NHL Regular Season Stats: GP- 799 G- 152 A- 311 PTS- 463
NHL Playoff Stats: GP- 71 G- 19 A- 16 PTS- 35

Review- Iafrate will always be remebered for his brilliant end to end rushes, sits 46th on Leafs all time scorers list, holds the single season team record for goals by a defensemen with 22 and
hardest shot at all star game at 105.2 mph. Knee injuries cut this players career short, one of my all time favorite Leafs defensemen.

Notable Players Drafted after: Gary Roberts, Kevin Hatcher

Draft Rating- A-

25th Overall Pick- Todd Gill (Defensemen)

Leafs Regular Season Stats: GP- 639 G- 59 A- 210 PTS- 269
Leafs Playoff Stats: GP- 77 G- 5 A- 26 PTS- 31

NHL Regular Season Stats: GP- 1007 G- 82 A- 272 PTS- 354
NHL Playoff Stats: GP- 103 G- 7 A- 30 PTS- 37

Review- Gill started off in his career as giveaway Gill but turned into a decent 5th, 6th tough as nails defensemen. Gill actually sits 38th overall in team scoring and had a long NHL career but expected more going in what would be a 1st Round pick today.

Notable Players Drafted after: Stephane Richer, Ray Sheppard, Patrick Roy

Draft Review- C

67th Overall Pick- Jeff Reese (Goaltender)

Leafs Regular Season Stats: GP- 76 W- 20 L- 33 T- 9 GAA- 4.09 SO- 1
Leafs Playoff Stats: GP- 2 W- 1 L- 1 GAA- 3.33 SO- 0

NHL Regular Season Stats: GP- 174 W- 53 L- 65 T- 17 GAA- SO- 4
NHL Playoff Stats: GP- 11 W- 3 L- 5 GAA- 4.08 SO- 0

Review- Reese had 2 winning seasons in his NHL career over about 8 seasons and is best remembered for being part of the Gilmour trade and when the Leafs kept the three headed dragon in net with Bester, Reese and Laforest in the 1989-90 season.

Notable Players Drafted after: Paul Ysebaert, Kris King

Draft Review- C-

88th Overall Pick- Jack Capuano (Defensemen)

Leafs Regular Season Stats: GP-1 G- 0 A- O PTS- 0
Leafs Playoff Stats: None

NHL Regular Season Stats: GP- 6 G- 0 A- 0 PTS- 0
NHL Playoff Stats: None

Review- Capuano will be remembered for being drafted out of high school and nothing else.

Notable Players Drafted after: Brent Severyn, Kirk McLean

151st Overall Pick- Derek Laxdal (Forward)

Leafs Regular Season Stats: GP- 48 G- 9 A- 6 PTS- 15
Leafs Playoff Stats: GP- 0 G-0 A- 0 PTS- 0

NHL Regular Season Stats: GP- 67 G- 12 A- 7 PTS- 19
NHL Playoff Stats: GP- 1 G- 0 A- 2 PTS- 2

Review- Laxdal was a 60 goal scorer in junior didnt get much of a crack with the Leafs or anywhere else.

Notable Players Drafted after: Don Sweeney, Luc Robitaille, Gary Suter

Draft Review- D

The Leafs also drafted Fabian Joseph, Joe MacInnis, Dan Turner, David Buckley, Mikael Wurst and Peter Slanina in the 1984 draft, none of the players played an NHL game so all get an E rating.

The 1984 gave the team one all star defensemen in Iafrate and a 5th, 6th defensemen in Todd Gill. Iafrate was a second team all star while playing in Washington and Gill had the longest career from any Leaf pick.

The teams general manager for the 1984 draft was once again Gerry McNamara, best player taken in the 1984 draft was #1 Overall Mario Lemieux.

Complete Draft Rating- C

Filed Under: maple leafs nhl iafrate gill laxdal nhl draft hockey

all mighty coil

January 23, 2009 6:05 PM ET | Delete
Interesting but i dont get the point of this blog.

SLawrence

January 23, 2009 7:31 PM ET | Delete
I think you're a little hard on the picks personally. As with the 83 draft (leafs getting a 700 point player, which isn't as common as you think from that draft, and others), this draft netting a d-man that played 1000 games in Gill, a servicable backup goalie in reese, and an all star d-man in Iafrate deserves a higher mark then a C. Courtnal rates as at worse the 7th best player taken in the first round, which is where they got him for example. In the 84 draft, I think Iafrate because of the injuries was the 6th best player taken in that first round. Had he not suffered injuries he would've been higher. He was by no means a bust and therefore deserves a B . Gill was maybe at worst the 6th or 7th best player taken in that round.......and the three guys that were drafted before him weren't so hot. If Roberts =A as the best player in that round Gill gets a solid B or B . Reese wasn't taken till round 4, and there's not much there outside of Ysebaert. Just something to keep in mind when you do the ratings, many teams only come away with 2-3 players that make it from each draft. 1983 and 84 get B's or at worse B-'s in my opinion compared to what other teams got, while you. I look forward to your 85 rating--and remember to compare leafs picks with other teams picks and then rate the draft.

SLawrence

January 23, 2009 8:50 PM ET | Delete
*its 88 and 89, 90 where the Leafs start scoring real bad grades. 86 I think they actually did real well.

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