Ranking Prospects 2021-2022

[herman]

PPP 20. Pontus Holmberg

TLN 15. Pavel Gogolev

Yeah, we're in the tier of ?\_(?)_/? prospects that people just happened to know the names of. No Lou Lamoriello-era picks from outside the 1st round even getting this far (T__T)

 

[herman]

PPP 19. Dennis Malgin

He is this 'high' because he has played in the NHL. He is this low because he is relatively old and the coach won't play him.

TLN 14. Dmitri Ovchinnikov

Now it gets fun!

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Curious what the deal with Maglin is here. I figured since he wasn't signed by now that he'd be staying in Europe. But I just read that he hasn't re-joined his Swiss league team yet and there's a report saying he's still focused on getting a NHL contract. I'd be perfectly fine bringing him back on a league minimum contract, the Marlies can still use some scoring pop and as an injury call-up he can hold his own in the NHL.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Kinda random, but I just realized that Amirov's ELC isn't eligible to slide this season. From Capfriendly's FAQ on ELC slides: "An exception to this rule is that if the player is 19 on September 15 of the first year of their contract, and turns 20 between September 16 and December 31, their contract does not slide."

Amirov is currently 19 years old, on the first year of his contract, and turns 20 on October 2nd. Since he's confirmed to be in Russia this season that means the Leafs will only have him for 2 years on a ELC. Interesting decision.

 

[herman]

Curious what the deal with Maglin is here. I figured since he wasn't signed by now that he'd be staying in Europe. But I just read that he hasn't re-joined his Swiss league team yet and there's a report saying he's still focused on getting a NHL contract. I'd be perfectly fine bringing him back on a league minimum contract, the Marlies can still use some scoring pop and as an injury call-up he can hold his own in the NHL.

Malgin zipped back to Toronto as soon as the Swiss season was done, even though Keefe wouldn't play him if his life depended on it. I think he really likes it here (didn't opt for arbitration!). If he's a tweener on every NHL team in the league, Toronto might be the best option, but I'm pretty sure he'd have a top-6 look on Buffalo/Arizona/Nashville, maybe Detroit/Ottawa.

 

[herman]

PPP 18. Ty Voit

I assume with the significant downtime, Voit would have been working a lot on his shot, if he wants to be relied on this coming season as Sarnia's top weapon.

TLN 13. Mac Hollowell

Might be one of our best skaters on our blueline. He's not big, but plays big, and has instincts for both directions of play. Smol boy, but there are small RD that have thrived in the NHL on their smarts and instincts (Spurgeon, Krug, Makar). Not saying he is remotely at their level at this point, but in the right system, he's that rover player that makes pucks go to good ice consistently.

 

[herman]

https://theleafsnation.com/2021/08/25/leafs-development-camp-and-rookie-tournament-what-we-know-so-far/

For the 2 people who might be interested in this, Kyle Cushman has the details on the dev camp and rookie tournament (held-back to back to minimize COVID quarantining logistics).

Leafs Dev Camp: Sept 9-14
Traverse City Tournament: Sept 16-20

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/rinkratreport/status/1430635027663101952

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/earlschwartz27/status/1430682450410283021
:'(

 

[herman]

PPP 17. Veeti Miettinen

Due to being in the same draft class and sporting similar styles (relatively high potential ceiling for the pick slot, low floor, tiny person, sweet hands, and greasy net front goals), Miettinen is probably going to get grouped with Ovchinnikov for the foreseeable future until there is separation in their games or one of them comes to the Marlies sooner, similar to Abramov and Abruzzese, at least in my brain, even though one is significantly older (Abruzzese is 22! vs Abrambov 20).

TLN 12. Veeti Miettinen

I guess today is Veeti Miettinen Day!

 

[Frank E]

https://twitter.com/earlschwartz27/status/1430682450410283021
:'(

Not sure what happened there, but that's disappointing.

Takes me back to my previous comments about the Leafs not being very successful in using their big budget development system to produce anyone that is making a notable impact for the big club.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Brazeau seemed like such a great project to take a chance on, even if we would only get a 3rd/4th line forward out of it. The Leafs would have given him all the resources in the world to get his skating up to par though so if they can't do it I doubt anyone can.

 

[herman]

Takes me back to my previous comments about the Leafs not being very successful in using their big budget development system to produce anyone that is making a notable impact for the big club.

I know you'll hate this, but Justin Holl and Pierre Engvall were longshots to even make a difference in the AHL. Andreas Johnsson as well. Kasperi Kapanen was a higher-end project whose game was transformed from one-way to multi-faceted (ish). Trevor Moore, a dev camp invite, netted Jack Campbell in a trade. Dubas' Marlies also added ceiling height to high-floor prospects in Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, forging productive top-6 wingers.

Obviously the ingredients have a lot to do with it as well. Sometimes the player just wants to go about it differently or somewhere else.

 

[herman]

I wanted to inventory the player types the Leafs have drafted since Shanahan. I left off the traded folk (or expired) and some others that I bet no one will notice.

Triple Threat	Playmaking Wizard	Snipers	Utility Winger	Rover Defense	All Situations Defense	Safe Defense
Auston Matthews	Mitch Marner	Nick Robertson	Pierre Engvall	Mac Hollowell	Travis Dermott	Mikko Kokkonen
William Nylander	Adam Brooks	Veeti Miettinen	Pontus Holmberg	Mike Koster	Rasmus Sandin
Rodion Amirov	Semyon Der-Arguchintsev	Dmitri Ovchinnikov	Matthew Knies	William Villenueve	Timothy Liljegren
	Mikhail Abramov	Joe Miller	Wyatt Schingoethe	Axel Rindell	Topi Niemela
	Nick Abruzzese		Ryan Tverberg	Kalle Loponen	Filip Kral
	Ty Voit			John Fusco

Triple threats can transport, pass, and shoot the puck to be dangerous
Playmaking wizards are usually only dangerous with the puck and open options.
Snipers shoot first and do it well.
Utility Wingers are usually puck getters or body displacers. Power forwards would be a subset here, but the Leafs rarely ever get to pick at type at a useful echelon. Matthew Knies might be the exception if he puts it together.

 

[Frank E]

Takes me back to my previous comments about the Leafs not being very successful in using their big budget development system to produce anyone that is making a notable impact for the big club.

I know you'll hate this, but Justin Holl and Pierre Engvall were longshots to even make a difference in the AHL. Andreas Johnsson as well. Kasperi Kapanen was a higher-end project whose game was transformed from one-way to multi-faceted (ish). Trevor Moore, a dev camp invite, netted Jack Campbell in a trade. Dubas' Marlies also added ceiling height to high-floor prospects in Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, forging productive top-6 wingers.

Obviously the ingredients have a lot to do with it as well. Sometimes the player just wants to go about it differently or somewhere else.

I guess I'm more referring to the intentions of developing guys that can contribute meaningfully on ELC's.

That's the secret sauce to creating a contending roster in this cap system:  developing your longer shots, or finding them, and then inserting them on your team while they're still positive contributors relative to their cap hits. 

Talking about how they made Connor Brown into a contributing Leaf, only to pay him $2.1m after his inaugural season isn't really what I'm talking about.

This was supposed to be a system that would develop players well, then provide them to the big club at superior price/point metrics.

 

[Bullfrog]

Obviously the ingredients have a lot to do with it as well. Sometimes the player just wants to go about it differently or somewhere else.

And sometimes they're just not as good as they've been projected.

 

[Highlander]

Takes me back to my previous comments about the Leafs not being very successful in using their big budget development system to produce anyone that is making a notable impact for the big club.

I know you'll hate this, but Justin Holl and Pierre Engvall were longshots to even make a difference in the AHL. Andreas Johnsson as well. Kasperi Kapanen was a higher-end project whose game was transformed from one-way to multi-faceted (ish). Trevor Moore, a dev camp invite, netted Jack Campbell in a trade. Dubas' Marlies also added ceiling height to high-floor prospects in Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, forging productive top-6 wingers.

Obviously the ingredients have a lot to do with it as well. Sometimes the player just wants to go about it differently or somewhere else.

I was a big hopeful for Brazeau, perhaps if he grew up closer to Ottawa or a larger city, he would  have been developed earlier.  Seems to be a very talented Golfer which shows coordination and also a very good basketball player, so for him to move on is a bit of disappointment.  I hope he finds his way.

 

[herman]

PPP 16. Dmitri Ovchinnikov

See what I mean about

Miettinen is probably going to get grouped with Ovchinnikov for the foreseeable future

TLN 11. Joey Anderson

I wish the Marlies weren't such poop.

 

[herman]

PPP 15. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev

Pandemic and injuries shafted his development and promising progress these past seasons, but he is starting to look pretty good, especially as his strength develops.

Jack Han on Der-Agruchintsev's first forays into Leafs Dev

TLN 10. Mikko Kokkonen

Steady and boring, but doing that as a teenager against pro adults is not nothing.

 

[herman]

PPP 14. Joey Anderson

Getting into the part of the list where the floor high enough that the players are generally NHL-capable. Joey Anderson has been tagged as the next Blake Coleman, and his waiver situation places him in a precarious situation with the organization if he can't establish himself against Dubas' annual bucketful of chaff forwards that might have wheat in it. Speaking of forecheckers and missing Connor Brown's nothing-flashy-but-do-many-little-things-well, Joey Anderson has a lot of that in his scouting report.

TLN 9. Mikhail Abramov

Probably going to see Abruzzese tomorrow, eh? Not sure how much ice time he'd see with the Marlies, especially with another sheltered scoring centre already occupying that niche (Semyon Der Arguchintsev). Hard to say what the line breakdowns will be until Leafs camp breaks because there's going to be lots of NHL-level players filling up space.