TheLeafsNation Top 25 of 2020: #20 — With the 15th overall pick the Leafs are proud to select… Braden Schneider?
By Zach Laing
3 years agoWelcome to the yearly wrap up of the top read articles over the last year!
There was only one potential draftee who made their way onto the top 25 most read articles for the year.
And that was Braden Schneider.
TLN readers seemed to be enamoured with the right-shot defenceman, and an article published on Sept. 4 by TLN editor Jon Steitzer was the 20th most read article.
It’s not a big surprise Leafs fans liked him. At 6’2, 210 lbs. and him being a right-shot rearguard he fits into the mold of what the Leafs need more of.
And when the Leafs were up to pick at 15, they opted to go in another direction as Toronto ended up taking another highly-touted prospect in Rodion Amirov.
Here’s some of what Steitzer had written about Schneider:
The rankings for Schneider seem to be all over the place but it seems highly likely that Schneider will be available when the Leafs pick. There is some issue that they might be reaching a bit by taking him at 15, but not a head scratcher by any means. It’s also entirely possible that if Schneider was a Leafs target that we could see Kyle Dubas continue with his practice of seeing if he could trade down a little for Schneider. The rankings that tend to focus on high end skill (Button and Elite Prospects) both are a bit more sour on Schneider, but the fact that both still list him as a first rounder may actually be a form of praise. While Schneider might not be as exciting a pick as someone like Nick Robertson, he’s a good fit with what Dubas selected in Rasmus Sandin, and a high end defensive prospect pool might be what we see from the Leafs in the near future.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
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