The Toronto Maple Leafs have had many hits in the NHL Entry Draft over the last few decades, including right up at the top of the draft.
The Leafs’ current core of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly were all homegrown top-10 draft picks, with John Tavares being a first-overall pick from the New York Islanders in 2009.
Not all draft picks are created equal, and not all players taken in the first round are destined to stick around for long NHL careers.
But that doesn’t mean all of them will be done playing hockey forever.
In fact, there are two former first-round picks from the team who likely will never play in the NHL again but are still making their keep as professional hockey players across the pond.
Frederik Gauthier — affectionately nicknamed “Freddie the Goat” — and Stuart Percy were taken by the Leafs in 2013 and 2011, respectively, being picked at 25th and 21st overall.
Percy was the Leafs’ second-round pick that year, with Tyler Biggs being taken at 22nd overall. He never played a game for the team, last playing for the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings in 2018-19.
The Leafs got a combined 180 games from the two picks: 168 from Gauthier over the course of five seasons from 2015-2020 and 12 from Percy in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Gauthier was a member of the 2018 Calder Cup-winning Toronto Marlies squad in the AHL and peaked with seven goals and two assists in 61 games with the Leafs in 2019-20. He then spent time in the New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes organizations over the coming seasons but eventually played just 10 more NHL games before heading to Europe.
Gauthier is in his third season across the pond, playing for Podolsk Vityaz of the Russian KHL. In his previous two years, he had suited up for the Switzerland-based Ajoie HC. This year, he’s picked up 12 goals in 47 games, just one short of his NHL career mark, but his team sits 19th in the 23-team KHL.
Percy bounced around with four different AHL teams after leaving Toronto as a free agent in 2016 but never found his way back to the NHL.
Percy first moved to Finland’s Sport Vaasa in 2020 before moving to Czechia, where he has spent the last four seasons. He spent his first two years in the country suiting up for Ceske Budejovice HC, while he has spent the last two years on Vitkovice HC. This season, he’s put up five goals and six assists in 31 games, though his team is in last place in the 14-team league.
So, while we may never see them suit up in the NHL again, perhaps they’ll find themselves representing the team one day at Scotiabank Arena as proud alumni whenever they hang up the skates.
John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
