Three Reasons the Maple Leafs Should Take Pierre-Luc Dubois over Matthew Tkachuk

By Alex Hobson

The scenario that no Toronto Maple Leafs fan wants to see is that of the odds going against them in the lottery and seeing them drop to fourth overall in the upcoming 2016 NHL Entry Draft, therefore missing out on the highly-touted Auston Matthews and explosive finnish wingers Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi. Lots of fans hope that if the Leafs do fall down to fourth overall, that they select London Knights forward Matthew Tkachuk. While Tkachuk would be a very solid pick, I think they would benefit more from selecting big forward Pierre-Luc Dubois should they fall to fourth. Here's why.

SIZE

I don't have a problem against Tkachuk, and I would still be happy if they picked him at 4th. However, there are a few reasons I'd be happier if they took a chance on Dubois. One of the reasons here is that he's bigger, standing at 6'3 and 209lb, and while judging a player's value based on size isn't smart, the Leafs lack some bigger, power forward type prospects in the organization. At this point they have Tobias Lindberg and Frederik Gauthier as their top two bigger prospects, so Dubois would be a smart pick.

LESS POINTS, BUT LESS AROUND HIM

Matthew Tkachuk had an incredible season, posting 107 points in 57 games for the Knights, but keep in mind that he was playing in the midst of an unbelievably stacked Knights team including the likes of Mitch Marner, Christian Dvorak, Max Jones, Olli Juolevi, and J.J. Piccinich. Dubois also had a great season despite having less points than Tkachuk, recording 42 goals and 99 points in 62 games. The difference is that Dubois didn't have the same skill around him like Marner did. He was primarily playing with Evgeni Svechnikov and Maxim Lazarev, both solid players but nowhere near the level of skill Tkachuk had.

CAN PLAY BOTH POSITIONS

The other problem I'd have with the Leafs taking Tkachuk at #4, is that he's a winger. The Leafs are absolutely stockpiled with winger prospects, including Mitch Marner, Nikita Soshnikov, Connor Brown, Dmytro Timashov, and Brendan Leipsic among others. However, they're relatively thin at centre, of course William Nylander is solid there, but after him they only really have players like Colin Smith and Frederik Gauthier lining up behind him. Dubois can play both wing and centre, which is a valuable asset to have as a player. If the Leafs could groom him into a full time centre, he could potentially grow into a number one, but only time will tell.
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