Former Maple Leafs player alleges Lamoriello artfully tanked 2015-16 season to land Matthews in the draft
Former Maple Leafs forward Nikita Soshnikov, speaking with Igor Eronko and Alexey Shevchenko of Sport Express, made the claim that former Toronto GM Lou Lamoriello made sure the Leafs finished last in the league that year to have the best chance to draft. Auston Matthews at number one overall in the 2016 draft.
While Soshnikov denied being told to hold back during games, he claims that everyone understood Lamoriello's actions late in the season in fielding a lineup of players who were less likely to win. Toronto finished with 69 points that year, one behind the Oilers and went into the lottery with a 20% chance at the first draft pick.
The 26-year-old forward played for Toronto from 2016 to 2018. He was traded to the St. Louis Blues in February of 2018, but after seeing a total of five games with the Blues at the NHL level the next season, he signed with Salavat Yulaev Ufa in 2019 where he became an All-Star with 48 points in 58 games.
12 rookies, including Soshnikov, made their debuts for Toronto during the season in question. The new Lamoriello/Babcock regime struggled out of the gate, but Soshnikov said that they had begun to turn the corner (presumably he meant March when, after calling up Zack Hyman and William Nylander, the Leafs went 7-8-1 in the month) when Lamoriello sent people down to the AHL and filled the lineup with weaker players. It should be noted that both Hyman and Nylander were indeed sent down around the end of March and finished their season with Marlies who came up short of winning a Calder Cup.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 18, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Phillip Danault | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Greenway | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Beck Malenstyn | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Owen Power | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zach Benson | - | - | - | |
| Bowen Byram | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
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