Should Toronto do this in the draft...?

There is no point in drafting a goalie in the first round. Take a look at most starting goaltenders in the NHL today.

Anaheim

-Hiller-Undrafted

Atlanta

-Pavelec-2nd Round

Boston

-Thomas-9th Round

Buffalo

-Miller-5th Round

Calgary

-Kiprusoff- 5th Round

Carolina

-Ward-1st Round

Chicago

-Crawford-2nd Round

Colorado

-Elliot-9th Round

Columbus

-Mason-3rd Round

Dallas

-Lehtonen-1st Round

Detroit

-Howard-2nd Round

Edmonton

-Khabibulin-9th Round

Florida

-Vokoun-9th Round

Los Angeles

-Quick-3rd Round

Minnesota

-Backstrom-Undrafted

Montreal

-Price-1st Round

Nashville

-Rinne-8th Round

New Jersey

-Brodeur-1st Round

New York Islanders

-Montoya-1st Round

New York Rangers

-Lundqvist-7th Round

Ottawa

-Anderson-3rd Round

Philadelphia

-Bobrovsky-Undrafted

Phoenix

-Bryzgalov-2nd Round

Pittsburgh

-Fleury-1st Round

San Jose

-Niemi-Undrafted

St.Louis

-Halak-9th Round

Tampa Bay

-Roloson-Undrafted

Toronto

-Reimer-4th Round

Vancouver

-Luongo-1st Round

Washington

-Neuvirth-2nd Round

As you can see there are only six starting goaltenders as of right now who were drafted in the first round and three of them (Dallas, New Jersey, New York Islanders) will most likely miss the playoffs. It's easy to stay competitive in this league now days without wasting a first round pick on a goaltender. Besides I think the Leafs issues are a lot more than goaltending.

I think they go with wingers this upcoming draft in the first round.

The Leafs have Ben Scrivens and Jussi Ryannas in addition to Gustavsson and Reimer.

Drafting a goaltender would make no sense.

If the Leafs were going to pick up a goaltender, their best bet would be as a 1B/backup role to Reimer. Bryzgalov isn't an option (didn't work with Allaire at all and the two were like oil and water), so I guess the options would be resign Giguere at a lower salary (my personal option assuming his groin is healthy) or go shopping for a Vokoun, Roloson, or someone like Conklin.

Phillips or Gibson are years away from being NHL ready. Do not want.

Supposedly the GM wouldn't mind packaging the picks to pick up a top-line forward which makes more sense depending on what the yield is.

The picks will probably be low as you said, virtually 2nd rounders really.....I think it's reasonable to assume that both are in the 23-30 range.

I think what they should do is invest in a free agent goalie. Their first choice should be Bryzgalov, their second choice should be Vokoun. What they cannot do is be fooled into thinking that their net problems are solved by an upstart quarter of a season from a young goalie. We all know how this story often ends and we can name countless goalies who upon their arrival had a hot start and gained some confidence only to sink like the titanic. Jim Carey, Andrew Raycroft etc. We have also seen goalies play above their capabilities when confidence is gained at the end of seasons- Michael Leighton just last year, JS Aubin, Mathieu Garon.

They would be wise to go with a proven star like Bryzgalov provided they can get him to sign for 5 years or less.

Oh, but heaven forbid, the Leafs faithful might say, we have a star in Reimer.......to which I laugh. Let him continue to develop and in this day and age many goalies like to have two goalies anyways.....look at Boston, they signed Thomas for 5 years with Rask in waiting, they just have the luxury of keep Thomas well rested for the postseason while they give Rask lots of work...it is also a good insurance for injury. Other teams, even a team like Vancouver, have a young guy who is MAYBE "capable" of starting in Cory Schneider, who is able to give Luongo a rest here and there while he earns his wings.

Also I think a good philosophy to have is NEVER drafting a goalie in the 1st round. For every one that pans out, there are 10 that don't. Also, when you look at goalies throughout the league, as many stars come out of the later rounds.

I was just looking at the eligible draft players last night. There's a defense man named Jamie Oleksiak who at mid season was projected to go late in the first found. He's a tank 6 foot 7 and 244 lbs at 18 and the scouting report compares him to a Chara type player

As for the goalie question there are 3 other young goalies in the system besides Rimer I say lets see what the can do before getting someone like bryzgalov and get an older cheaper veteran like Auld for security

No they should not. They already have a big enough log jam in net as it is, bringing in another will muck things up. Besides, drafting a rookie goalie will not fill that hole. What they do need if anything might be a vet goalie to play 25-30 games to help out Riemer. They should use those picks to move up in the draft.

Why would we pick a goalie? We have two, young goalie prospects at the NHL level right now in Reimer and Gustavsson. We also have two, very good goalie prospects in the minors in Schrivens and Rynnas. If we do pick a goalie, it will be with a later round pick. We need forwards, and that is who Burke will likely target.

Reimer is not a great goalie. He lets in a lot of iffy goals that could and should be stopped. I believe the leafs are getting better don't get me wrong but you cannot rely on a guy like Reimer to rebuild this team. I believe that they need a first line centre to start off with. Then you work your way from there, everything takes time. Just relax leaf fans its not time to panic just yet.

Burke is looking for forwards and a solid PPQB defenseman, but Gardiner may assume that role depending on how fast he develops from now until September when training camp resumes.

I don't know about the goalie stuff, but they should draft Jurco cause he Is very good and most teams are not intrested in him.

i heard burk might give up there picks too try to get back the goalie he let go.