Sharks' Ivar Stenberg says the Maple Leafs didn't feel like "the team for me"

Ivar Stenberg just handed the Toronto Maple Leafs some bulletin board material, hours before tonight's 7:30 p.m. puck drop in Toronto.

Speaking to the East Bay Times, the Sharks rookie admitted his pre-draft meetings with Toronto never clicked. And he didn't sound broken up about it.

“I didn't have good meetings with Toronto and didn't feel like it was the team for me,” Stenberg said. “They wanted another guy, and I accept that. But I'm super happy I'm with the Sharks.”

The other guy, of course, was Gavin McKenna. Toronto took him first overall, and the 19-year-old Swede went one pick later to San Jose.

On paper, the San Jose forward is winning round one. He's put up six points through eight games, and both of his goals have come on the power play.

McKenna has five points through nine games, which is respectable for an 18-year-old. It just isn't the separation Toronto was banking on when it made the call.

The cap sheet makes the comparison even cleaner. Both rookies count $1,075,000 against the cap, so this is as close to a lab test as the league gets.

Maple Leafs sit last in the Atlantic as the Sharks roll into town

Here's the part Leafs fans won't enjoy. Toronto is 3-4-2 and sits at the very bottom of the Atlantic Division.

Saturday night's 4-1 home loss to the Islanders stretched the skid to three games. The Leafs have gone 2-3-1 on home ice, which doesn't exactly scream fortress.

So who's actually in better shape? San Jose is 4-3-1, but a -7 goal differential says that record is flattering a team still learning how to defend.

The Sharks also fell 4-3 in a shootout in Detroit on Saturday. Neither bench walks in tonight with any momentum to protect.

And both clubs face a back-to-back. San Jose heads to Montreal tomorrow as the road trip rolls on, while Toronto travels to Columbus.

The Leafs are also missing John Tavares, who's on IR with a lower-body injury. He isn't expected back until at least November 27.

That puts even more weight on Auston Matthews, who has 13 points in nine games. Toronto's top six looks thin without its veteran center.

Then there's Macklin Celebrini, sitting on 11 points in just six games. Five of those are power-play assists, and the Leafs penalty kill gets to deal with that all night.

Neither crease inspires confidence. Yaroslav Askarov owns an .848 save percentage, and Anthony Stolarz sits at .875 for Toronto.

To be fair, Stenberg isn't spotless. His minus-6 rating is the worst among Sharks forwards, and he went minus-4 over his last five games.

But Toronto made the wrong pick. Taking McKenna was like buying the convertible when the driveway needed a pickup truck, and this roster has too many holes for flash.

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McKenna gets the first chance to answer on home ice, with a skidding team behind him. A quiet night, and that draft room gets second-guessed for years.

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