Ducks acquire 23rd pick from Leafs for 31st and 58th picks

The Anaheim Ducks wanted to get on more of the fun early on in this year’s draft.

Late in the first round at Sphere in Las Vegas on Friday night, the Ducks acquired the 23rd overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft from the Toronto Maple Leafs. In return, the Maple Leafs received the 31st and 58th picks.

The Ducks ended up taking Norwegian defenseman Stian Solberg with the pick. It was their second selection in the opening round, as they also took Oshawa Generals forward Beckett Sennecke third overall.

The picks that Toronto received were not originally Anaheim’s. The Ducks originally acquired the first-round pick from the Edmonton Oilers, who sent Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick to Edmonton before the trade deadline. The second-round pick was the Boston Bruins’ pick. However, it changed hands in March 2022, when the Bruins acquired Hampus Lindholm for John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, and two other picks.

There are a few players that the Leafs can look at pursuing with their two new selections. Up front, Moscow Dynamo’s Igor Chernyshov has been stumbling down the board, despite originally being projected to near the top half of the first round. Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod’s Nikita Artamonov might be another player who is still available in the first round. U.S. National Team Development Program star EJ Emery and HIFK’s Aron Kiviharju are a couple of blueliners that would be good picks up for a Toronto organization searching for more defense depth.

For the late-second-round pick, U.S. National Team Development Program standouts Max Plante and Kamil Bednarik are viable scoring threats that can be groomed into everyday NHLers. 6-foot-5 Adam Kleber and Zug standout Leon Muggli are a couple of underrated defensive prospects heading into this year’s draft.

With the trade, the Leafs currently have eight picks in this year’s draft, while the Ducks have eight.