The Leafs’ top hockey ops candidate turned 4th and 5th round picks into Stanley Cup champions

Mahoney's ability to find diamonds in the rough certainly led to a ton of success for the Capitals and considering that he's been with the organization since the 2000-2001 season — he's one of the architects that brought in the NHL's greatest goal-scorer in Alex Ovechkin.

The Maple Leafs could certainly use someone who has drafted that calibre of player, however that's pretty much a shoe-in when the first pick is Sidney Crosby and you're sitting second.

It's a heck of a consolation prize, and Washington became elite under his watch but he could be looking to do some bigger things in his career and may be open to a new position.

And the word around Toronto is they are certainly taking an interest in him:

Mahoney's ability to find random names who end up being solid to elite NHL players is astounding and it's shocking he hasn't had a promotion yet in his career.

For context, and this is a long list — but here's some of the names he drafted since coming in:

- Johnny Oduya (7th round, 850 GP, 190 Points)*
- Mathieu Perreault (6th round, 708 GP, 352 Points)
- Braden Holtby (4th round, 513 GP, 299 Wins)*
- John Carlson (1st round, 1,156 GP, 783 Points)*
- Dmitry Orlov (2nd round, 945 GP, 362 Points)*
- Cody Eakin (3rd round, 701 GP, 256 Points)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov (1st round, 743 GP, 575 Points)*
- Martin Fehervary (2nd round, 377 GP, 100 Points)
- Alaiksei Protas (3rd round, 318 GP, 169 Points)
- Ilya Protas (3rd round, 1 GP, 1 Point)**

*Won Stanley Cup
**Made NHL debut in 2025-26

Suffice to say while there are clearly some first round hits in Carlson and Kuznetsov, there's a ton of talent that spent long careers in the NHL who came in the third round or later and more than enough Cup winners to justify those draft picks.

The reason that Toronto's been linked to Mahoney is pretty obvious and that's due to the fact that he doesn't need top draft picks in order to find stars. Sure, adding Carlson, Kuznetsov, Ovechkin, and not to mention names like Karl Alzner and Nicklas Backstrom are easy picks when you have the capital.

But for a team like Toronto who doesn't, it's about finding those hidden Holtby's kicking around, or the Protas' to come in and reshape the identity of the team. Plus, for all intents and purposes — Oduya and Perreault were both very, very good NHL players who spent a combined 25 seasons in the league.

You need to find those role players who can come in and solidify whatever spot you have open. Perreault was a scrappy face-off maestro who loved to be pesky, and Oduya was a very solid shutdown defender in the vein of Chris Tanev.

Combine those types of players with stars that are already established (or going to be) and you can start to see why the Capitals got so good. Sure, Toronto is going to need a bit of luck to go their way in order to grab that final franchise-changing piece; there's no denying it.

But if they were to have Mahoney running the show, they can at least feel confident that if they don't have a chance in the first couple rounds, they're still going to come out with a stud or two by night's end.

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