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Leaf Rumours

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?
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What you'll end up seeing is maybe three... MAYBE four quality NHL players (or even borderline NHL'ers). And that's from the organizations with the best developmental systems and drafting records. People forget just how few jobs there are. There are over 600,000 adult hockey players and junior-level players in Canada lone. There are a little over 600 available jobs in the NHL.

600. That's it.
 
UWHabs said:
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.
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No, you really can't just say "it's a crapshoot".

A guy like Aulie would have been one of our top-3 prospects a few years back, and he can barely crack our top-10.
 
Aulie and Caputi were at least 2nd-3rd on Calgary and Pittsburgh's prospect rankings before the trades. On ours, they're much further down the list.
 
hockeylover said:
That's the Colorado state flag.
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Oh so the Jersey was copy of the state flag

rockies.jpg
 
JaysCyYoung said:
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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Of course now that you've posted the rankings, we expect it to become an annual tradition. :deal:
 
In terms of prospects, I think leaf fans owe Jiri Tlusty. He had the good graces to remain ****ing terrible even when not on the leafs.
 
I give it a year or two max before Tlusty permanently decamps from North American shores to play in either the Czech league or the KHL. He was a disappointment when he came over to play in the OHL, and in his 4th professional season, he's actually regressed at the AHL level and is still completely useless at the NHL level. I'm glad that Burke quickly realized that he was useless and dumped him, it's just a shame that the only thing we essentially have to show for a decently high draft pick is a portion of Kris Versteeg's price tag (which should be a lesson for those that think it's a disaster we traded draft picks for Phil Kessel).
 
I think in most cases you can justify giving up two firsts for a good young player like Kessel, but in typical Leaf fashion, the worst outcome possible occurred. I mean, yeah Toskala sucked ass but I love how a guy like Stempniak gets shipped out and plays like he has for Phoenix so far. Unreal.

21 goals in 40 games with Phoenix (82gp 42g)
25 goals in 123 games with Toronto (82gp 17g)

Come on, hockey gods. That's just cruel.
 
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The Leafs have traded 1st round picks before the start of a season 3 times since 1990. The first was Scott Neidermayer, the second was Roberto Luongo and the last one was Tyler Seguin.

Figures.
 
Yep, another shitty Leaf first round pick.

And once again it needs to be mentioned that the guy Junior fired would have taken Chris Stewart at 13, instead of Mr. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge Say No More.
 
LeafGm said:
I give it a year or two max before Tlusty permanently decamps from North American shores to play in either the Czech league or the KHL. He was a disappointment when he came over to play in the OHL, and in his 4th professional season, he's actually regressed at the AHL level and is still completely useless at the NHL level. I'm glad that Burke quickly realized that he was useless and dumped him, it's just a shame that the only thing we essentially have to show for a decently high draft pick is a portion of Kris Versteeg's price tag (which should be a lesson for those that think it's a disaster we traded draft picks for Phil Kessel).
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I still remember how many of you were screaming at Burke the day he traded Tlusty for Paradis.

I said it then, I'll say it again now - Paradis will be a better NHL player than Tlusty.
 
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