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Ranking Prospects 2022-2023

PPP: 8. Nick Abruzzese

Only ranked this high because we already saw him in the NHL and he was obviously smart with the puck, but needs some focused strength & dev time. He's already a replacement Adam Brooks at the moment, which is pretty good for where we drafted him. I want to see him dominate Marlies shutdown minutes and see how he stacks up against Abramov/Der Arguchintsev on the same team/system. PPP voters seem to have his ceiling at Kerfoot-lite.
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/Kyle_Cush/status/1565396880204390406
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Not that it was ever actually a legitimate option, Nick Moldenhauer is also not going to the NBA's Toronto Raptors, and will indeed be back with the Chicago Steel this season.
 
https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/toronto-maple-leafs-prospects/2022/9/2/23321175/toronto-maple-leafs-prospect-nikita-grebyonkin-is-a-name-to-watch-big-fast-physical-two-way-winger

Nikita Grebyonkin has made his KHL team as an extra forward to open the season. Got about 8ish min of TOI, which is not just benchwarming.

https://twitter.com/Kyle_Cush/status/1565480508271771649
Future Mikheyev/Engvall type (if he can beef up his skating).
 
Nah man, herman is just going to read screenshot excerpts off Twitter

Also if it?s just the 2016 draft I will just get mad
 
PPP: 7. Roni Hirvonen

Admittedly, I was disappointed when we made this pick. I had a player in mind at that 2nd round slot, but Dubas naturally traded down for an extra. Come time to pick at 59, he takes a pass on my guy and picks up Roni instead: another small winger with a penchant for scoring. It all turned out laughably okay later when Dubas and Co. pick Topi Niemela anyway with the extra pick.

Since then, Hirvonen has simply continued to climb into prominence at the national stage and in Liiga. On large ice, his size is not so much a hindrance, as there is more time to react and squirrel away. To Hirvonen's credit, he is someone that plays bigger than his size on paper; he is competitive on the forecheck and gets under sticks and into hands. He forces the play into dirty ice and does most of his damage in tight with quick hands, crafty playmaking, and spade work at the crease. Pierre Engvall would be a $7M player if he played with Hirvonen's gumption.
 
herman said:
PPP: 7. Roni Hirvonen

Admittedly, I was disappointed when we made this pick. I had a player in mind at that 2nd round slot, but Dubas naturally traded down for an extra. Come time to pick at 59, he takes a pass on my guy and picks up Roni instead: another small winger with a penchant for scoring. It all turned out laughably okay later when Dubas and Co. pick Topi Niemela anyway with the extra pick.

Since then, Hirvonen has simply continued to climb into prominence at the national stage and in Liiga. On large ice, his size is not so much a hindrance, as there is more time to react and squirrel away. To Hirvonen's credit, he is someone that plays bigger than his size on paper; he is competitive on the forecheck and gets under sticks and into hands. He forces the play into dirty ice and does most of his damage in tight with quick hands, crafty playmaking, and spade work at the crease. Pierre Engvall would be a $7M player if he played with Hirvonen's gumption.
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Easy, let's do a gene meld.  I've tweaked CRISPR a bit down in the basement and can pull it off in a couple of days or so.


Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 
PP: 6. Topi Niemel?

Our top defense prospect not currently in the NHL! Likely to be playing some late season Marlies minutes. I was unreasonably excited to draft him, even though he was a smaller defenseman with almost no points going into the draft. Truthfully, I picked him out of an EliteProspects list of draft eligible defensemen at semi random and looked up a preliminary scouting report and what little video there was and thought, I want dis. It wasn't necessarily glowing, but I thought there were a lot of projectable tools to build on and he was basically a kid playing in a mens league in a coveted position (RD): skating agility, defensively responsible as a kid(!), trusted by coaches already, made a lot of the right passes coming out of the zone and keeping the puck in the zone, so there was also room to grow offensively if given the green light.

The goal here is to try to make a Jared Spurgeon; undersized, but so smart and so calm that pucks just find him and go the right direction.

Watch this video breaking down Topi Niemela's rise.
 
https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1567584156300738563

I remember watching this moment on my phone at a friend's house and cheering silently in the basement when that card turned over because nobody else there cared about hockey.
 
Boy I can't wait to get the behind the scenes scoop about the Korshkov pick and get irrationally angry all over again.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Boy I can't wait to get the behind the scenes scoop about the Korshkov pick and get irrationally* angry all over again.
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How many other goal-per-game NHL players do you know?  ;D

* the anger has sound logic behind it

I really want the behind-the-scenes to know who said what and why that led them to those decisions (2017 too). So I have a name and face to blame.
 
PPP: 5. Nick Robertson

High, high ceiling; tricky to gauge floor. He certainly has the motor and awareness for a bottom six energy role, but is he going to be able to withstand the rigours of the NHL with his frame? He has already been beset with injuries (circumstantial ones) that has delayed his development. His skillset begs for a top-6 offensive role, and there hasn't been a more difficult time in the Leafs franchise to break into such a spot. Fortunately, he plays the position with the lowest threshold of entry (LW), so... there's a chance, if not this season then after Kerfoot and potentially Bunting move on.

Things that can help push Robertson over the top in my estimation:
* judicious application of that motor: knowing when to wait and when to give'r gas will let him apply the most force at the right time. Flying at 100% all the time is a recipe for flaming out mid-season. Dr. Wickenheiser has commented on this previously and it looks like it's starting to sink in.
* skating stride: he's very hunched over, like he's riding a motorcycle; not sure if you can change this at this stage of the game. Ideally, you want a quiet upper body that is more upright (see Nylander, Engvall), while the legs extend through the glide efficiently.
* leverage his playmaking: until his breakout season in D+1, Robertson was known more for his passing; in the NHL, he's not going to be the go-to shooter on any of the top-6 lines. As a smaller guy, there's value in being someone who can disrupt from the boards and feed linemates in the slot. As defenses shift to cover the higher profile threats, it will open up space in return for Robertson to pew pew some pucks.
 
PPP: 4. Timoth Liljegren

Liljegren, the new poster child of patient development, adding new skills, and being a team player is poised to have a true breakout season. Slated pre-draft to go in the top 3 at one point as a savvy offensive right-shot defenseman, Liljegren famously dropped in the final standings due to a lacklustre draft year fueled by a significant bout with mono. The Leafs snapped him up at 17 OA in 2017 and proceeded to reshape his game into someone who actually plays defense. He is shaping up to be the 2nd 3rd best defenseman from that draft class.

This season he has the luxury of playing with a good partner in nearly every circumstance:
Offensive Fun/2v1 breakaway practice: Rielly
Shutdown: Muzzin
Sheltered domination/Corsi go brrrrr: Giordano

Edit: see next two posts
 
herman said:
PPP: 4. Timoth Liljegren

Liljegren, the new poster child of patient development, adding new skills, and being a team player is poised to have a true breakout season. Slated pre-draft to go in the top 3 at one point as a savvy offensive right-shot defenseman, Liljegren famously dropped in the final standings due to a lacklustre draft year fueled by a significant bout with mono. The Leafs snapped him up at 17 OA in 2017 and proceeded to reshape his game into someone who actually plays defense. He is shaping up to be the 2nd best defenseman from that draft class.

This season he has the luxury of playing with a good partner in nearly every circumstance:
Offensive Fun/2v1 breakaway practice: Rielly
Shutdown: Muzzin
Sheltered domination/Corsi go brrrrr: Giordano
Click to expand...

As much as I like Lily, I don't think he's shaping up to be better than Heiskanen.
 
PPP: 3. Matthew Knies

Outside of the top 5 picks we've had, I don't think I've ever seen a safer 'floor' in a Leafs draft pick. The goal here is to develop him into an actual top-6 power forward option, which means beefing up his skating mechanics, and opening up his vision to the space his puck possession skills and board work tends to create.

Once upon a time, I wanted a Zach Hyman/JvR hybrid LW; I think Knies has the potential to be such a player. It's going to take a bit of time to get there though, and develop that base of experience in an environment where he is not the biggest person on the ice.
 
PPP: 2. Rasmus Sandin

He is more than Dermott 2.0, but is he going to able to reach his potential here where there is a veritable logjam on defense? It very likely clears up after this season, so is he patient enough to wait and win those minutes?
 
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