What the Bruins’ elimination means for the first-round pick the Leafs acquired in Sandin deal with Capitals

With the Boston Bruins bowing out in the first round of the playoffs to the Florida Panthers, we now know when the Toronto Maple Leafs will make their first selection in this summer’s draft.

The Leafs acquired the Bruins’ first-round pick back in late February in what was essentially a three-way trade between Toronto, Boston, and Washington. The Bruins acquired Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway from the Capitals in exchange for a first-round draft pick among other things, and that first-round pick was flipped to the Leafs a few days later in a deal for Rasmus Sandin.

Leafs trade Rasmus Sandin to Capitals for Erik Gustafsson, Boston’s first-round pick https://t.co/oGCKC0RlBf
— TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) February 28, 2023

The Bruins put together the strongest regular season in league history and won the Presidents’ Trophy handily but the NHL bases the draft order on how far teams go in the playoffs. Picks No. 29 and No. 30 go to the two teams that lose in the Conference Finals, the No. 31 pick goes to the team that loses in the Stanley Cup Final, and the No. 32 goes to the team that wins it all.
So, since Boston had the league’s best record and won’t advance any further in the playoffs, we know their pick will be slotted in at No. 28 overall. Barring any other moves, this will be Toronto’s first pick in the upcoming draft, as they moved their own first-round pick to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari.
The Leafs have selected No. 28 overall twice in their history. They drafted Jeff Jackson in 1983 and Daniel Marois in 1987 and they went on to play 263 and 350 games in the league respectively. Some notable players who were sele …

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Author: Cam Lewis / The Leafs Nation

Miller signing, suspensions and Leafs earn Team of the Week: Around the Atlantic

Miller signing, suspensions and Leafs earn Team of the Week: Around the Atlantic

It was a controversial week in the Atlantic division. The Boston Bruins dominated the headlines with their signing of Mitchell Miller and two players were suspended. Also, for the first time this season the Leafs have earned the Team of the Week honour.
Miller signing
On Friday the Bruins signed Miller to an entry level contract. Two days later they have parted ways. Immediately after Miller was signed, the entire hockey world lost respect for Cam Neely, Don Sweeney, and the Bruins organization.
Either the Bruins management team is completely inept, or they didn’t care about Miller’s past. Neely claimed they thought Miller’s bullying of Isaiah Meyer-Crothers was an “isolated incident” and they changed their mind on signing him based off new information.
The story of Miller’s repeated physical and emotional abuse of Meyer-Crothers has been public since Miller was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2020. There is no way the Bruins were unaware of the extent of Miller’s bullying.
Neely and the Bruins only chose to rescind their contract offer to Miller because of the public backlash. Had the blowback not been so extreme, Miller would be playing professional hockey in Providence right now.
This is another tough look for the NHL …

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Author: Scott Ony / The Leafs Nation

Xander Bogaerts says the Boston Red Sox aren’t trading him

While it may have appeared the Boston Red Sox were going to be forced into a rebuild after being embarrassed last weekend by the Toronto Blue Jays, that may not be the case.

Speculation began to swirl about the status of pending UFA’s like J.D. Martinez and Nathan Eovaldi could fill some needs for teams making a playoff push.
And that’s not even taking into account a guy like Xander Bogaerts, either. Despite having four years left on a deal paying him $20-million a year, the 29-year-old’s name was floating out there in the market.
That is, until he told reporters Thursday night the Bo Sox told him he wouldn’t be traded.

Bogaerts said he’s been told personally that he won’t be traded. “I don’t know if I’ll get in trouble for saying that,” he said. Said it’s allowed him to relax some.
— Julian McWilliams (@byJulianMack) July 29, 2022

If Boston does sell-off, it would undoubtedly be a plus for the Blue Jays. Toronto plays two more three-game series against Boston, including one right at the end of the season and going against torched lineup would only increase the Jays’ odds of winning.
Things will be interesting to watch around the AL in the coming days. The Blue Jays are sitting two games up in the AL wild card race, but a team like the Seattle Mariners, who are sitting half a game up in the race, could be big spenders at the deadline.
Could the Cleveland Guardians, or Tampa Bay Rays make a push at the deadline, too? Things will be interesting to see, to say the least.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’ …

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Author: Zach Laing / Blue Jays Nation