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And with two first-round picks — No. 4 and No. 24 — the expectation is that they should be able to find them.

“It looks like a good one,” Morrison said of this year’s draft class. “The best one of all time? I have a hard time tagging it better than the ’84-’85 group of kids (in the 2003 draft that produced players such as Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Eric Staal) back in the day. But it’s good. It’s a good first round.

“Clearly, the top couple of guys there are special type players. So when you’ve got them right off the hop, it gives it a feel of it being something special. Time will tell what it produces.”

Barring a blockbuster trade with either Edmonton or Buffalo, it appears that Toronto will miss out on consensus No. 1 pick Connor McDavid and No. 2 pick Jack Eichel. But depending on who the Arizona Coyotes select at No. 3, the Leafs should be able to choose between Erie Otters centre Dylan Strome, London Knights winger Mitch Marner and Boston College defenceman Noah Hanifin.

“It all depends on what Arizona does,” said Morrison. “The top-2 are straight forward and then who knows. Hopefully as it gets closer we have a better idea. But when there’s a team in front of you, we might not know until they call a name out. We’ll be prepared either way.

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“If they take Player X, we’ll take Player Y. If they take Player Y, we take Player X or Z. But there’s players to be excited about, that’s for sure.”

For the Leafs, the bigger selections could come later in the first round with the draft pick that they acquired from the Nashville Predators as well as the other rounds. In the last six years, the Leafs have not had a player selected after the first round who has played more than 31 games in the NHL.

That has to change. And Morrison, with the help of Hunter and the analytics department — “They’ve added a different insight and are helping us make decisions,” said Morrison — is hoping to change that.

“At this point, where we’re at is we’re trying to turn this thing around,” said Morrison. “This draft should certainly help us.”



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