After spending many years twiddling their thumbs in the first round of the NHL draft because they had traded away valuable picks, the Leafs have big plans for the June proceedings in St. Paul, Minn.

They are looking at two late round picks, to be determined for sure if the Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup and drop from 23rd to 30th overall in the order. The Leafs hold Boston's choice from the Tomas Kaberle trade and Philadelphia's from the Kris Versteeg deal, which is currently the 27th pick. Because they flipped two first-rounders to Boston a couple of years ago for Phil Kessel, the Leafs' own pick wouldn't kick in until 39th overall.

Having seen the light where building through the draft is concerned, general manager Brian Burke is not yet thinking of grouping all three selections in a trade for a badly needed veteran first-line center.

"We're ready to go with the picks we have," Burke told the team's in-house TV station. "The question is whether we can package one of those picks and maybe ours at 39th and move up at the draft. We've already started the groundwork on that (during staff meetings in early May in Las Vegas).

"It looks like we're going to pick twice, but we'll move up if we can."

The attraction in climbing the ladder is the talented group of centers at the top. As many as five playing that position could be taken with the first six picks. Burke said it's unlikely he would attempt to trade for a veteran center at the draft, preferring to wait until July 1 and seek an unrestricted free agent. But with an expected shortage of such a commodity around the league, other than Brad Richards, Burke said he'd then "do it the old-fashioned way, through a trade."

There is always the chance Toronto might change direction and make a bold pitch to sign a restricted free agent to an offer sheet, which would cost picks down the road.

At present, the Leafs also hold Philadelphia's third-round pick for the coming draft, their own fourth and fifth, and a total of five picks in the sixth and seventh rounds.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Toronto came out of the All-Star break riding rookie goalie James Reimer, and there was an air of invincibility around him and the team. One-goal decisions that had gone against Toronto for so long were reversed, and the Leafs lost just three regulation games of the next 18. They were still in playoff contention as late as April 5 after being 10 games under .500 before New Year's Day.

TURNING POINT
Starting with a surprise overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Oct. 18, Toronto wasted the eight points it banked at the start and did not win back-to-back again until mid-November. The Leafs never made it back to eighth place after Halloween.

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