For the second consecutive year, the Toronto Maple Leafs went off the board with their first-round pick, selecting an ascending talent from the Ontario Hockey League that would’ve been available per consensus opinion in the draft community. Toronto hit the equivalent of a 500-foot home run last year after selecting Easton Cowan with the No. 28 pick, who responded by winning OHL MVP, OHL playoff MVP and will genuinely compete for a roster spot this fall.
Toronto selected defenceman Ben Danford with the No. 31 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, trading down from the No. 23 spot to receive the No. 31 and No. 58 selections from the Anaheim Ducks. Danford improved significantly during the second half of the year, particularly on the offensive side of the game as a member of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, registering four goals and 10 points in 21 playoff games.
Maple Leafs director of player personnel and amateur scouting Wes Clark provided his impressions of Danford to reporters in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon.
“Elite intangibles,” Clark said of Danford to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “Excellent defensive instincts. Just checks all the boxes that we were looking for. The upside, I think, is sky high. Ben was pretty much the target all the way along. So, lucky we got him.”
This explains why Toronto traded down, with the premonition that Danford would be available at No. 31. Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving hinted Wednesday that some teams have players higher on their boards than others, perhaps alluding to the team’s internal confidence about Danford.
Danford admitted he’s been a lifelong Maple Leafs fan upon being drafted, naming Phil Kessel and Tampa Bay Lightning star Victor Hedman as his two favourite players. He fits a need in the Maple Leafs’ system and his selection marked the first time Toronto used its first-round pick on a blue liner since Rasmus Sandin in 2018.
Here’s what Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis wrote about Danford leading up to the draft:
For a defenseman with Danford’s offensive abilities, it’s crazy he had just one goal during the regular season with Oshawa. But he’s a guy his teammates like to rely on because he’s rarely caught making a mistake distributing the puck. I’ve seen Danford play both sides on the blueline this year but I think he’s got something going on the left side – it fits his shot better.
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As the Pittsburgh Penguins continue trade talks centered around wing Rickard Rakell, the veteran has drawn a lot of interest around the league. The Penguins may be able to net some strong assets for him in any deal, but there is also a high asking price to move the wing. Rakell could be a real game-changer for a team this late in the offseason, and there is some smoke around a trade happening. But where the veteran lands remains a major mystery around the NHL. NHL insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period linked the Seattle Kraken to a deal for Rakell. While it remains to be seen if a deal will come about, the Kraken could be a solid landing spot for the veteran. Rakell remains a valuable scoring option and could heavily impact any team that would land him. Last season for the Penguins, the veteran wing scored 35 goals and 35 assists, showing his strong productivity. The biggest obstacle for the Kraken in trading for Rakell is that he owns an eight-team no-trade list. It's unknown which teams are on this list, so Rakell would need to waive this if Seattle were part of it. We have seen players do this over the years, so it's possible that a deal could happen. But it has also been reported that Rakell would prefer to stay with Pittsburgh, despite all the trade rumors around him. If Seattle were able to pull a deal for Rakell off, it could help them get back to the postseason. Seattle has missed the playoffs in three of the four years that it has been a franchise in the league, and the front office has a lot of pressure to win moving forward.
Would the New York Yankees still be a heavyweight contender without Aaron Judge? Most fans would doubt it. What comes as a shock is that Yankees general manager, Brian Cashman, appears to agree. According to MLB insider Andy Martino of SNY, Cashman had explored the option of selling ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline (6 p.m. EST) if Judge’s flexor strain had turned out to be something worse. Martino wrote this: “[On Saturday], we relayed that the Yankees were floating some of their free-agent-to-be relievers in preliminary trade talks. We have since learned through league sources that last week the Yanks brought up Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt in talks with at least one other club.” It would be strange to see a team with a record well above .500 shop core hitters at the deadline. Both Bellinger and Goldschmidt — hitting .281/.333/.507 with 19 home runs and .283/.341/.419 with eight home runs respectively entering Tuesday — have been valuable producers for the Yankees this year. Goldschmidt signed a one-year deal with the Bronx Bombers over the offseason while Bellinger was acquired via trade with the Cubs. He is signed through 2026 but has a player option at the end of the year. Either player would bring a nice haul back to the Yankees. Of course, the reigning AL MVP’s injury doesn’t seem to be a season-altering, ‘abandon ship’ type of event. Optimistically, Judge should be back soon. But this does serve to illustrate how the team’s success is dependent on one player. Beyond Judge, the Yankees’ batting order doesn’t feature a star-caliber player, or at least a player the lineup can be built around. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, New York lacks enough solid hitters to be considered a worthy contender without Judge. The Yankees’ three bottom-of-the-order hitters — Austin Wells (.214), Anthony Volpe (.213) and newest acquisition Ryan McMahon (.223) — all own batting averages below .230 entering Tuesday. And this doesn’t include J.C. Escarra (.205), Oswald Peraza (.152) or even Ben Rice (.229). If Judge was lost for the season, selling wouldn’t have been a bad idea. He is insoluble glue holding the battered Yankees’ roster together, especially with Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt gone for the year. No one on the trade market could replace him, but with Judge coming back, the Yankees might have enough firepower to at least limp to the finish line.
According to multiple reports, the Seattle Mariners are set to promote minor league first baseman Tyler Locklear from Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday. Locklear was removed from the Rainiers game in the fifth inning on Tuesday night, leading to speculation that he was being traded. It no longer appears that that's the case. There's been no indication as to what the corresponding move will be at this time, but there's certainly a few different things potentially in play. Is Luke Raley being traded? After the Mariners acquired Josh Naylor, Raley is no longer needed at first base. That pushes him to the outfield, where the team has clearly favored Dominic Canzone. Raley hasn't started a game since Naylor arrived. He's hitting just .220 this season with four homers, and he also missed more than a month with injury. However, he's under team control through 2028, so he would certainly have appeal to other teams. The Mariners are in the market for relief help and help at third base, so this is possible. Is Raley injured? Some internet sleuths noticed Raley wearing a back brace while the team was in Anaheim over the weekend, leading to speculation that he's hurt. The future of Donovan Solano? With Naylor in the fold, Solano's right-handed hitting first base ability hasn't really been needed. He's only hitting .243 with an 83 OPS+ this season. Is the team prepared to move on from him in order to give Locklear his chance at the backup first base job? And how about Dylan Moore? Keeping Solano and Locklear would seem redundant, but Moore is in a 2-for-56 slump (entering play on Wednesday), leading to speculation about how long he'll be around for. Locklear, 24, made his major league debut last season and hit .156 in 45 at-bats. He's hitting .316 at Tacoma this season with 19 homers and 18 stolen bases. He was just named the PCL's Hitter of the Week.
The Detroit Tigers have been unstoppable at the plate lately, and Tuesday night was no different. The Tigers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-2, giving them 27 runs in the last three games. A big contributor to their offense on Tuesday was outfielder Wenceel Perez, who joined Sam Crawford (1912), Ossie Vitt (1915) and Ty Cobb (1924, 1916, 1915) as the only four players in franchise history to have a single, double, triple and two stolen bases in the same game. Perez began his historic night with a double off Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt in the second inning before adding a single in the fourth. A monster fifth inning put the Tigers ahead 8-2 after an early 2-0 deficit, which set the stage for a three-run sixth inning that included this triple from Perez off Arizona's Jake Woodford to give Detroit a 10-2 lead. Perez scored two more runs, one in the sixth and the other in eighth, to give the Tigers their final two runs in a 12-run outburst. Overall, Perez had three hits in five at-bats, scored four runs and added one RBI to go with his historic statline. Given his performance over the past month, it was surprising to see Perez show out against Arizona. After all, he did not have a single hit the last two games, and he only recorded more than one hit once in 20 games the entire month coming into Tuesday. The Tigers were once the hottest team in baseball when they held a 59-34 record on July 8. Since then, they suffered a slump that includes a six-game losing streak. Suddenly, Detroit has won its last three and scored 10 or more runs in two of those victories. As good as the offense has been, the pitching has been solid as well with the Tigers outscoring their opponents 27-7 during the three-game stretch. Yes, the last two wins have come against a struggling Diamondbacks team that sits fourth in the NL West with a 51-57 record. Still, they have taken care of business and won handily. The next step is getting healthy and having someone to pair with ace Tarik Skubal in the rotation. Right-hander Chris Paddack was added to the 26-man roster and is set to start Wednesday, while free agent signing Alex Cobb is beginning his rehab assignment. The Tigers will go for the sweep of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday before traveling to Philadelphia for a weekend series against the Phillies. It will be difficult to top Perez's historic outing from Tuesday, but if momentum is any indication, the Tigers may only be getting started, especially if the pitching depth is there.
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