Prospect Info: 2018/19 Marlies & Prospects Thread Part VI

[TheBeastCoast]

Kaskisuo
Is better than Sparkes

Sparks back stopped the Marlies to the cup last season.

 

[hockeynorth]

How has Korshkov been looking lately? Not much chatter on him

 

[Gutchecktime]

Wow. They tied it up. 3-3.

 

[LeafChief]

 

[hullsy47]

How has Korshkov been looking lately? Not much chatter on him[/QUOTElii
looks like a AHL ER

 

[JEI]

Good team assembled there. Zach O'Brien has been awesome. Id really like to see some promotion from that ECHL club.

 

[JEI]

How has Korshkov been looking lately? Not much chatter on him

Haven't seen him lately but even early on he was just OK? But its still early on so we will see.

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Good team assembled there. Zach O'Brien has been awesome. Id really like to see some promotion from that ECHL club.

Marlies might need some of those guys next year if some of the Marlies move up. The D are ugly but guys like O'Brien, Pooley, Ferguson, Elynuik might get looks with the Marlies if they stick around.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Marlies might need some of those guys next year if some of the Marlies move up. The D are ugly but guys like O'Brien, Pooley, Ferguson, Elynuik might get looks with the Marlies if they stick around.

O'Brien likely sticks around. He's from Newfoundland and is getting paid an AHL wage. That's ideal for him at this stage of his career.

Elynuik might stick around as well. He could be a depth guy for the Marlies, but they brought in Colt Conrad already and I think Ryan McGregor is going to be around as well. Ferguson and Pooley likely go to a place which can guarantee them an AHL job next year.

The Marlies aren't going to be short on talent next year though, even with graduations... And a lot of the replacements will likely be more high end AHL talents (i.e. Mueller type guys) or prospects (i.e. Brazeau, McGregor, etc.), not high end ECHL talents who are older.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Kaskisuo
Is better than Sparkes

Sparks was a dominant goaltender in the AHL for 4 years.

Kaskisuo has had a good 8 games lol I love how he's playing but people flip so quick on guys around here...

 

[Joey Hoser]

Kaskisuo
Is better than Sparkes

Unless he had some revelation 3 weeks ago that turned him into a dramatically better goaltender than he's ever been before or ever projected to be, then this is a hot streak and he is absolutely not as good as Sparks.

 

[nuck]

Unless he had some revelation 3 weeks ago that turned him into a dramatically better goaltender than he's ever been before or ever projected to be, then this is a hot streak and he is absolutely not as good as Sparks.

2016-17

Toronto Marlies

AHL

7

0

0

391

12

0

1

1.84

5

1

0

169

0.934

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

2018-19p

Toronto Marlies

AHL

9

0

0

541

16

1

1

1.77

8

1

0

250

0.940

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

He had the same revelation in 2016 Lets hope the third period was a hiccup and the wheels won't be falling off quite yet.

 

[Cor]

Kaskisuo was also a top 10 AHL goalie last season when we loaned him to the Wolves. Frankly, based on all of his AHL play, this regular season is the outlier, not the norm for Kaskisuo.

For goalies, AHL stats is the least of my worries though. I care more about form and composure. Sparks has awful form and no composure.

So people need to watch Kaskisuo in net, and look at his form, look at his style, and look at his composure, and see if that's a goalie you can see playing in the NHL. If it is, then it's likely worth giving that player the shot. If not, then it's not worth it.

Looking at a goalies stats and making assumptions in order to form an opinion is wrong. That's how you get it wrong. Granted, unless you have a can't miss prospect like Carter Hart who has the form, the composure, and the stats.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Kaskisuo was also a top 10 AHL goalie last season when we loaned him to the Wolves. Frankly, based on all of his AHL play, this regular season is the outlier, not the norm for Kaskisuo.

For goalies, AHL stats is the least of my worries though. I care more about form and composure. Sparks has awful form and no composure.

So people need to watch Kaskisuo in net, and look at his form, look at his style, and look at his composure, and see if that's a goalie you can see playing in the NHL. If it is, then it's likely worth giving that player the shot. If not, then it's not worth it.

Looking at a goalies stats and making assumptions in order to form an opinion is wrong. That's how you get it wrong. Granted, unless you have a can't miss prospect like Carter Hart who has the form, the composure, and the stats.

It is also interesting to see how the goalie reacts when they find themselves in high pressure situations. Composure etc is all fine and good but once the chips are down, some guys buckle under the pressure...it is a different kind of pressure and requires a different kind of composure.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Kaskisuo was also a top 10 AHL goalie last season when we loaned him to the Wolves. Frankly, based on all of his AHL play, this regular season is the outlier, not the norm for Kaskisuo.

For goalies, AHL stats is the least of my worries though. I care more about form and composure. Sparks has awful form and no composure.

So people need to watch Kaskisuo in net, and look at his form, look at his style, and look at his composure, and see if that's a goalie you can see playing in the NHL. If it is, then it's likely worth giving that player the shot. If not, then it's not worth it.

Looking at a goalies stats and making assumptions in order to form an opinion is wrong. That's how you get it wrong. Granted, unless you have a can't miss prospect like Carter Hart who has the form, the composure, and the stats.

Even that is not guaranteed. Sparks had amazing form and composure with the Marlies last year, and I think even in the NHL it is no where near as bad as people are making it seem.

My problem with Sparks is that he did not come into the NHL as prepared as he could have. He even admitted it. He did not put in the work over the summer as much as he could have. I'm not worried about it this year though. I doubt he takes it for granted again, because he's in a contract year. He has the skill and the mental game to be able to be quite effective, but if you come in unprepared, it doesn't matter. Just ask Nylander about that. It's the same for any player in any sport and at any position.

Another big thing is to have the right team and situation to come in and produce. Hart was given a lot of ice time, low expectations (Philly used like 10 different goalies last year and all of them sucked except for Hart and a mediocre Elliott; if he did better than average they were probably happy), and a pretty solid defense. Sparks saw his ice time drastically cut from what he was used to from the year before (with large gaps between games), many defensive efforts that did not warrant a victory, and the expectation was for him to essentially translate what he did from the AHL right away (plus replace McElhinney and Pickard).

Sparks was far better than Kaskisuo. Kaskisuo has some good athleticism, but skill is no where near Sparks' level. Nonetheless, he can still be a solid backup if he puts things together, and he should be capable of being a solid #3 next year, but Sparks showed a lot more than Kaskisuo ever has.

 

[Stephen]

Even that is not guaranteed. Sparks had amazing form and composure with the Marlies last year, and I think even in the NHL it is no where near as bad as people are making it seem.

My problem with Sparks is that he did not come into the NHL as prepared as he could have. He even admitted it. He did not put in the work over the summer as much as he could have. I'm not worried about it this year though. I doubt he takes it for granted again, because he's in a contract year. He has the skill and the mental game to be able to be quite effective, but if you come in unprepared, it doesn't matter. Just ask Nylander about that. It's the same for any player in any sport and at any position.

Another big thing is to have the right team and situation to come in and produce. Hart was given a lot of ice time, low expectations (Philly used like 10 different goalies last year and all of them sucked except for Hart and a mediocre Elliott; if he did better than average they were probably happy), and a pretty solid defense. Sparks saw his ice time drastically cut from what he was used to from the year before (with large gaps between games), many defensive efforts that did not warrant a victory, and the expectation was for him to essentially translate what he did from the AHL right away (plus replace McElhinney and Pickard).

Sparks was far better than Kaskisuo. Kaskisuo has some good athleticism, but skill is no where near Sparks' level. Nonetheless, he can still be a solid backup if he puts things together, and he should be capable of being a solid #3 next year, but Sparks showed a lot more than Kaskisuo ever has.

Just not seeing a lot of opportunities left for a soon to be 26 year old subpar NHL backup.

 

[dubplatepressure]

Even that is not guaranteed. Sparks had amazing form and composure with the Marlies last year, and I think even in the NHL it is no where near as bad as people are making it seem.

My problem with Sparks is that he did not come into the NHL as prepared as he could have. He even admitted it. He did not put in the work over the summer as much as he could have. I'm not worried about it this year though. I doubt he takes it for granted again, because he's in a contract year. He has the skill and the mental game to be able to be quite effective, but if you come in unprepared, it doesn't matter. Just ask Nylander about that. It's the same for any player in any sport and at any position.

Another big thing is to have the right team and situation to come in and produce. Hart was given a lot of ice time, low expectations (Philly used like 10 different goalies last year and all of them sucked except for Hart and a mediocre Elliott; if he did better than average they were probably happy), and a pretty solid defense. Sparks saw his ice time drastically cut from what he was used to from the year before (with large gaps between games), many defensive efforts that did not warrant a victory, and the expectation was for him to essentially translate what he did from the AHL right away (plus replace McElhinney and Pickard).

Sparks was far better than Kaskisuo. Kaskisuo has some good athleticism, but skill is no where near Sparks' level. Nonetheless, he can still be a solid backup if he puts things together, and he should be capable of being a solid #3 next year, but Sparks showed a lot more than Kaskisuo ever has.

"Amazing"? I don't know about that. Seema he was behind an NHL defense and even then he was shakey at times. Guys don't magically lose their entire form going from AHL to NHL. Wasn't he yanked in the POs last year too?

 

[Joey Hoser]

"Amazing"? I don't know about that. Seema he was behind an NHL defense and even then he was shakey at times. Guys don't magically lose their entire form going from AHL to NHL. Wasn't he yanked in the POs last year too?

Sparks was the AHL goaltender of the year and won the championship last year. If you don't think he has what it takes at the NHL level, then fine, but trying to poke holes in that run he had is not the way to do it. He was great for the Marlies and it isn't debatable.

 

[Fogelhund]

"Amazing"? I don't know about that. Seema he was behind an NHL defense and even then he was shakey at times. Guys don't magically lose their entire form going from AHL to NHL. Wasn't he yanked in the POs last year too?

Goalies are voodoo... personally, it looked like he wasn't mentally ready, and steadily got worse. I don't know if he has what it takes, to get his mind in the game at the NHL level.

 

[saltming]

Even that is not guaranteed. Sparks had amazing form and composure with the Marlies last year, and I think even in the NHL it is no where near as bad as people are making it seem.

My problem with Sparks is that he did not come into the NHL as prepared as he could have. He even admitted it. He did not put in the work over the summer as much as he could have. I'm not worried about it this year though. I doubt he takes it for granted again, because he's in a contract year. He has the skill and the mental game to be able to be quite effective, but if you come in unprepared, it doesn't matter. Just ask Nylander about that. It's the same for any player in any sport and at any position.

Another big thing is to have the right team and situation to come in and produce. Hart was given a lot of ice time, low expectations (Philly used like 10 different goalies last year and all of them sucked except for Hart and a mediocre Elliott; if he did better than average they were probably happy), and a pretty solid defense. Sparks saw his ice time drastically cut from what he was used to from the year before (with large gaps between games), many defensive efforts that did not warrant a victory, and the expectation was for him to essentially translate what he did from the AHL right away (plus replace McElhinney and Pickard).

Sparks was far better than Kaskisuo. Kaskisuo has some good athleticism, but skill is no where near Sparks' level. Nonetheless, he can still be a solid backup if he puts things together, and he should be capable of being a solid #3 next year, but Sparks showed a lot more than Kaskisuo ever has.

Your loyalty to sparks is commendable, but at some point you have to call a spade a spade.
Sparks positioning, puck tracking skill and save selection in the NHL are not up to par and he did not improve during the season.
He is a great ahl goalie, and that's not a slight, but he doesn't seem to be NHL material.
KK on the other hand is not quite as good as sparks in the ahl but may have a better NHL showing because his technique MAY translate better with a more structured game.
KK is still a crap shoot, but I think we have what we have with sparks.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

"Amazing"? I don't know about that. Seema he was behind an NHL defense and even then he was shakey at times. Guys don't magically lose their entire form going from AHL to NHL. Wasn't he yanked in the POs last year too?

He was amazing. The defense had nothing to do with it, because he bailed them out time after time. You could probably count the number of truly bad games he had on one hand. He earned top goalie honours on his own.

EDIT: Let me re-word this. Obviously the defense did help him do well. It wasn't like he was behind a POS defense. However, he made the defense look a lot better than it actually was and he earned those honours on his own merit, not by backstopping an elite defense. He was one of the Marlies' best players, which is impressive on a Calder Cup winning team. It was not a fluke.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Your loyalty to sparks is commendable, but at some point you have to call a spade a spade.
Sparks positioning, puck tracking skill and save selection in the NHL are not up to par and he did not improve during the season.
He is a great ahl goalie, and that's not a slight, but he doesn't seem to be NHL material.
KK on the other hand is not quite as good as sparks in the ahl but may have a better NHL showing because his technique MAY translate better with a more structured game.
KK is still a crap shoot, but I think we have what we have with sparks.

We can see at training camp when they go up against eachother. He probably does not have as much of a leash as he did last year, but it was like every single thing that went wrong had something to do with Sparks whenever he was in net. Sure, I expected more and he needs to be better, but he also was blamed for a lot of things that had little to nothing to do with him (there were countless defensive mistakes and times where he was left out to dry and he got blamed for not making a save even top NHL goalies would be lucky to make).

I just think the treatment Sparks' received by fans was completely unwarranted. He was unfairly treated as a scapegoat for a lot of overarching problems for the Leafs, and I felt like there should have been at least one guy who gives him the credit he deserves, not just the criticism.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Goalies are voodoo... personally, it looked like he wasn't mentally ready, and steadily got worse. I don't know if he has what it takes, to get his mind in the game at the NHL level.

That's what I was saying. I don't think he was prepared for the season. If the Nylander thing has taught us anything, not preparing properly in the summer or otherwise not being prepared for the start of the season (i.e. holding out until December 1st) is not going to set you up for success in the NHL... And once you are behind, it is very tough to catch up.

I don't think that means he flat out does not have the mental game, because otherwise he would not have even been given a chance in the first place. I guess we will see this year, because I would imagine if there were any time that he would prepare and make sure he has the mental game, it would this upcoming year. Regardless, this will probably be his last season in Toronto, being a pending UFA who will either not be a good enough backup or be too good and price himself out.

 

[Mr Hockey]

We can see at training camp when they go up against eachother. He probably does not have as much of a leash as he did last year, but it was like every single thing that went wrong had something to do with Sparks whenever he was in net. Sure, I expected more and he needs to be better, but he also was blamed for a lot of things that had little to nothing to do with him (there were countless defensive mistakes and times where he was left out to dry and he got blamed for not making a save even top NHL goalies would be lucky to make).

I just think the treatment Sparks' received by fans was completely unwarranted. He was unfairly treated as a scapegoat for a lot of overarching problems for the Leafs, and I felt like there should have been at least one guy who gives him the credit he deserves, not just the criticism.

Have you ever seen a GM do what Dubas did to Sparks at seasons end going into the playoffs?