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Leafs' Prospect/Marlies Discussion Thread!

zeke said:
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Marlies practice lines (in my order):


Robertson --- Holmberg --- Steeves
Abruzzese --- Shaw --- McMann
Hirvonen --- Gambrell --- Tverberg
Clifford --- Slavin --- Ellis
Ovchinnikov --- Blandisi --- Solow


Lagesson --- Kokkonen
Rifai --- Villeneuve
Benoit --- Miller
Lajoie --- Niemela

​
 
MindzEye said:
Almost February so here we go

1) Robertson
2) Niemela
3) Knies

No changes

4) Holmberg
5) Minten
6) Voit
7) Grebyonkin

Steeves stagnating offensively in the AHL pushes him down, Greby looking like a real prospect in the KHL pushes him up. Greby sure looks fucking intriguing. This progression continuing until the end of the year probably pushes him up and makes the top 3 group a top 4 group.

8) Hildeby
9) Moldenhauer
10) Steeves
11) Hirvonen
12) Villeneuve
13) Tverberg

A bit of reshuffling here. Steeves down to 10th and he's trending towards that 3rd tier of guys who might be functioning depth one day. .83ppg just isn't enough at his age to hope for middle 6 NHL production. Moldy moves up on age/upside considerations. Looking to move Hildeby up, but he's dropped to a .921 in 14 games in the SHL now. Gotta keep an eye on that.

14) Akhtyamov
15) Joe Miller
16) Peksa
17) Lisowsky
18) Hoefenmayer
19) Abruzz
20) SDA
21) Miettinen
22) Petruzelli
23) Kressler

A fair bit of movement here...we've had a wild Joe Miller sighting, and he's putting a better PPG as a 20 yr old than Tverberg or Miettenen so he jumps well up this group of mostly long shots and non prospects. The AHL 22-24 yr olds have all calmed down after being at or near PPG, so their rankings are starting to reflect near non prospect status with kids like Lisowsky and Miller moving up. All in all a reshuffle that reflects where we are in the season being a bit more data than we've had to work with so far. Akhtyamov with a .944 in 34 VHL games deserves the top spot and looks way overdue for KHL shooters. He could move up aggressively if he gets some KHL reps and looks good in them. Historically, decent or better Russian NHL goalies are already good KHL goalies by 21 yrs old.
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Bored on Sunday, so now is as good a time as any to update for this season. For now even the kids who made the show out of camp will remain on the list until it's clear that they're full timers that are sticking with the NHL club for the entire season.

1) Knies
2) Robertson
3) Cowan
4) Minten
5) Niemela

This tier expands a bit compared to last year as our pipeline gets deeper and more talented at the top end. It's kind of impossible to deny Knies as our top prospect right now though I still believe Robertson to have the higher upside. Robertson looks pretty fucking close to breakout ready imo though and had a better professional camp than he's had previously. But I agree with the idea of letting him cook in the AHL while we give Minten a shot to show he belongs, given our centre situation. I position Cowan higher than Minten on upside, the skill set is obviously exciting though Minten looks ready to play a man's game now, but with some upside limitations imo but that stills really impressive at 19. Niemela had a bad training camp but is only 21, still a RHD and I'm way more interested in how he looks over an AHL season than at his first camp with the Leafs. The Euro defenders usually need a bit of a transition period to north american hockey. If he's not playing like a top 2-3 for the Marlies by mid season, I'll get concerned.

6) Grebyonkin
7) Voit
8) Hildeby
9) Ahktyamov
10) Holmberg

Greby looks like he might be real good and a good month in the KHL could push him up to the next group. Voit's placement is pending a run of AHL games to see what he is now against AHL competition at 20. 20 yr old AHL production is a huge dividing line in prospect development. Guys who don't transition well from CHL hockey to AHL hockey become impact players in the NHL at a much lower rater than the guys who transition well. We should be looking at a .6ppg+ scoring rates at minimum from Voit for us to get excited about top 6 type NHL potential. Higher is obviously ideal. Goalies are voodoo, but both of these two look about as sexy as anything but elite goalie prospects can look. This is a big year for both though, both are 22 (Ahky in 2 weeks, but close enough) and if they're going to be high end NHL tendies, they should look like it in the AHL & KHL respectively. Holmberg rounds this out as he sure looks NHL calibre, but looks more like a complimentary 3rd line type guy than anything higher level than that.

11) Moldenhauer
12) Hirvonen
13) Villeneuve
14) Peksa
15) Chadwick


Moldy off to a rough start in the NCAA, but probably has the highest upside here (Chadwick pending...early season results might be a D+1 offensive breakout underway). Hirvonen looks so, so much better than his stat lines ever read. I completely get why he's always been so highly though of by scouts but if his Liiga trend continues into the AHL we're looking at a 4th liner at best. Villeneuve had an intriguing season from a 20 yr old RHD, would be nice to see a step forward so I can put him in the next tier with the good NHL prospects.


16) Kokkonen
17) Lisowski
18) Peksa
19) Miller
20) Malinoski


Kokkonen looked like a professional at camp, what level of professional should be answered this year with lots of opportunity on the Marlies blueline up for grabs. Lisowksy is off to a decent start to his D+2 season as a WHL skill midget. Probably deserves to be a tier higher, but I'm still a bit hung up on the mythical ~1.2 ppg mark that still holds up surprisingly well as a benchmark for CHL D+1 production for anyone who goes on to be a good offensive player in the NHL and Lisowsky missed that by a bit last year and being a skill midget is unlikely to find a NHL role in any other way but scoring his way into it. No idea what Peksa is yet, but interesting, ditto Miller. Malinoski may as well be from parts unknown after getting drafted out of the AJ.
 
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