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Leaf Rumours

zeke said:
The Cupboard is actually stocked full.
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Stocked full of what though?

It has quantity, but not a lot of quality, at least outside the goaltending position.

I do like having 4 nice goalies though. Burke has to make the right choice on which one(s) to keep...we can't really afford another Pogge/Rask debacle.
 
There are some interesting names in there though: a guy like Sondre Olden is a massive prospect from a tools standpoint. You could have a first-round talent right there who is basically a piece of coal from a developmental standpoint. You stick him in the SEL for three seasons after convincing him to maybe play in Portland or Kitchener or London for a year in the CHL and you might just have a rough diamond to work with by the time he has some experience under his belt.

Then you've got a high-quality second-line presence like Brad Ross, who possesses a skillset that the Leafs have lacked since Tucker was bought out and whose energy would be valued by every team in the league (the kid has offensive talent to boot), add in an intriguing Jesse Blacker, one of the best-skating defencemen in the CHL with some physical dimension to his game (albeit an underwhelming defensive game), and some other odds and ends making noise (such as Josh Nicholls) and it's not a bad group. I'd comfortably say that it's a top ten group in the league from an organizational standpoint, but it will require probably at least two more Drafts and NCAA/European pick-ups to be a truly strong system. Some continued development from Greg McKegg into a potential impact forward would go a long way to reaching that goal, specially if he challenges for the OHL scoring lead all season.

Zeke is right though: the Leafs have never had such a deep group since we have been watching the team.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
Most teams only have a single offensive prospect that possesses what could be considered elite skill. What separates most organizations is their elite skill, there's no denying that, but the Leafs positional depth and number of second and third-line candidates is very strong..

Moreover, the Leafs organizational-depth prospect-wise in goaltending is pretty unmatched around the league if you check most depth charts.
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Exactly. Thus everytime someone mentions our cupboard is bare I laugh. They must not be aware of the prospects in our system, or they over-value the quality of prospects in other farm systems ... or both.

What the Leafs lack is top 6 prospects, but that goes for most organizations. In this day and age, nobody can keep 3-4 top 6 candidates who are almost ready for the NHL down in the minors. Most organizations would rather bring up those guys and play them on the 3rd line / reduced role with the big club.

But McKegg is looking good thus far, we also have Caputi (who despite not NHL ready yet, has plenty of potential to be a decent 2nd liner), D'Amigo, Nicholls, Crabb, Olden, Ross, Irwin just to name a few.
 
The "problem" with the Marlies is that our best prospects are already on the big club: Kadri, Aulie, Schenn(though not a prospect anymore really), Gusto(same as Schenn).
 
Metalleaf said:
The "problem" with the Marlies is that our best prospects are already on the big club: Kadri, Aulie, Schenn(though not a prospect anymore really), Gusto(same as Schenn).
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Kadri's been really good since his call up. I've been impressed with Aullie's game, he's quiet out there, but he's always in position, is physical, and surprisingly a decent skater for someone who is 6'6. Schenn's a mo'fo beast, kid's a gem, and will turn out to be a great player. The monster's been good too, I just hope once Giguere is back, that Gustavsson keeps the #1 role.
 
What I like about Olden is that the Wings liked him, which means Andersson liked him, which means it was probably a good idea to trade up and grab him.
 
I mean, take a look around the league. How many teams do have more than one elite prospect in their system? This is entirely subjective opinion and my lists may differ from someone else depending on how they look at a player but just for posterity, here are "elite" prospects by organization:

Northeast Division

Boston Bruins - Tyler Seguin, Joe Colborne
Buffalo Sabres - Tyler Ennis
Montreal Canadiens - PK Subban
Ottawa Senators - Jared Cowen (?)
Toronto Maple Leafs - Nazem Kadri

Atlantic Division

New Jersey Devils - Mattias Tedenby
New York Islanders - Nino Niederreiter
New York Rangers - Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan
Philadelphia Flyers - none
Pittsburgh Penguins - Eric Tangradi

Southeast Division

Atlanta Thrashers - Alex Burmistrov
Carolina Hurricanes - Jeff Skinner, Zach Boychuck, Jamie McBain (?)
Florida Panthers - Jacob Markstrom, Erik Gudbranson
Tampa Bay Lightning - Brett Connolly
Washington Capitals - John Carlson, Michal Neuvirth

Northwest Division

Calgary Flames - none
Colorado Avalanche - none
Edmonton Oilers - Taylor Hall, Magnus Paajarvi, Jordan Eberle
Minnesota Wild - Mikael Granlund
Vancouver Canucks - Jordan Schroeder, Cody Hodgson (?)

Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks - Dylan Olsen (?)
Columbus Blue Jackets - Ryan Johansen, Nikita Filatov
Detroit Red Wings - Brendan Smith
Nashville Predators - Colin Wilson, Jonathan Blum
St. Louis Blues - Alex Pietrangelo, Jaden Schwarz, Vladimir Tarasenko

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks - Cam Fowler
Dallas Stars - Jack Campbell, Scott Glennie
Los Angels Kings - Jonathan Bernier, Brayden Schenn
Phoenix Coyotes - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
San Jose Sharks - Logan Couture

There are honestly perhaps only a few organizations in the NHL that I would willingly want to swap organizational depth charts with: Los Angeles, Florida (both franchises of which have both incredible depth in terms of high-end talent and the supporting parts), Edmonton (who has the best top three prospect group in the league), St. Louis (who has riches up front and a stud on the blueline), and possibly, possibly Carolina depending on how good McBain turns out to be.

It's not as cut-and-dry as the analysts make it out to be.
 
Volcanologist said:
Stocked full of what though?

It has quantity, but not a lot of quality, at least outside the goaltending position.

I do like having 4 nice goalies though. Burke has to make the right choice on which one(s) to keep...we can't really afford another Pogge/Rask debacle.
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what does "outside the goaltending position" mean?

and is Kadri a prospect?

and McKegg, Ross, and Olden are all very nice prospects.
 
Pronger84 said:
The leafs have tremendous depth in goal in terms of prospects, several defensive defencmen prospects, followed up by 3rd and 4th line pluggers. Our only elite prospect in terms of actual offensive skill is Kadri.
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how many teams have more than one elite offensive Kadri-level forward prospect?
 
Goldust said:
Really?

After Kadri, your best forward prospect is Caputi. And he stinks.
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No, after Kadri, comes McKegg.

Then comes Ross, who was just invited to the Canadian WJC team.

Then comes Olden.

Then comes D'Amigo.

Then comes Caputi.
 
Goldust said:
Caputi is a bust. He has no talent to speak of. All that was expected of him was some solid net presence and boards play, and he can't even provide that. Sad. Other than Kadri, the cupboard is looking bare indeed.
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Ummm, if you're looking in the cupboard for the Leafs future you clearly haven't been paying attention.
 
Problem with prospects is everyone thinks differently about them. I look at the Leafs system and I'm not all that impressed. Maybe I'm jaded from all those years I was told the Habs were top-5 only to see prospect after prospect bust.

But that's basically the issue with every team. After their top prospect or 2 (basically, Jays' list from above), it's pretty much a crapshot. I sometimes wonder if you take a snapshot of a team's "top 20" prospects from 10 years ago, are the ranks of how they've panned out any way close to how they looked at that time? Might be an interesting comparison.
 
You're a Habs fan. But at least you make an effort, which is more than I can say for most opposing fans: when Wolfie and I created our Top Prospects List there were kids from a whole host of organizations that we disliked, including Montreal.
 
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