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Prospect Info: 2023 5th Rd Selection - #153 OA - C, Hudson Malinoski [Brooks Bandits, AJHL; 6'1", 174lb]

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His comeback from injury is crazy.
Yeah he's an overage player but he also lost a ton of development time from that and is frankly lucky to even still be playing hockey. Hopefully things go his way and he can turn into something
 
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I'll be honest and say that I didn't know he existed prior to the pick being made (I imagine many of us are in the same boat) but from what I've read over the last few hours, he's an interesting prospect.

Will be fun to track him in the NCAA next year. Providence is no slouch of a program.
 
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KeziaTML said:
An over ager in a low tier league. Exciting.
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That Cale Makar kid played for Brooks and turned out pretty well.

He's not Makar, of course, but he was in a good program in Brooks, will be going to a good program at Providence, and scouting agencies seem to like him.

Seems like a solid pick.
 
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I do not seem him as very projectable, and he needs a ton of work on everything except his shot. He has a nice shot.

He was carried by Aiden Fink in Brooks, and he can thank Fink for getting drafted TBH. He did a fine enough job doing a little bit of the dirty work and being the shooter/finisher for Fink.

Providence does a good job developing hyper-competitive, super physical two-way guys (Acciari, Tanev, Duhaime), but I am not sure he would be fully willing to commit to that style of play enough to be like them. And while Acciari has been able to make it work with sub-par skating, I do not think Malinoski is anywhere near physical enough to do the same with his sub-par skating.

Also seems odd that the Leafs would emphasize playoff performance and competitiveness enough to take major reaches on Minten and Cowan but then decided to take a chance on a D+1 with a poor playoff performance.

All-in-all, I had him going undrafted. He was the kind of guy that I would have kept tabs on as a potential NCAA UFA or even maybe a D+2 selection, but not someone I would have drafted based on what he did this year. And I'll be totally honest, I think the Leafs have maybe drafted one guy with top 6/4 potential in the past two years and he was also the latest pick the Leafs made in either draft (Lisowsky in the 7th round). Otherwise, we've been targeting a lot of bottom 6 potential guys who hardly even have an above average chance to make the NHL to make up for their lower upside.
 
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Seems like he's got a lot of tools but his development path is a little iffy. We'll see. It's pretty rare AJHL drafted players really make a dent at the pro level I think, but I could be wrong. Providence is a good college spot to develop though so hopefully he can get serious minutes.
 
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Only for McKeen's subscribers, but thought that I would post anyway. Some of my work this year on Malinoski, with some video.



In a nut shell, I really liked his game at the WJAC's for Canada West. Did some digging on his background, spoke to a few people and then kept tabs on him in the AJHL. Consistency is a major issue. But I see enough raw talent there to suggest that I believe this to be an excellent pick. Exactly the type of guy you target in this range. Behind the development curve, I think added strength and conditioning could probably do wonders for his game.
 
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SeaOfBlue said:
I do not seem him as very projectable, and he needs a ton of work on everything except his shot. He has a nice shot.

He was carried by Aiden Fink in Brooks, and he can thank Fink for getting drafted TBH. He did a fine enough job doing a little bit of the dirty work and being the shooter/finisher for Fink.

Providence does a good job developing hyper-competitive, super physical two-way guys (Acciari, Tanev, Duhaime), but I am not sure he would be fully willing to commit to that style of play enough to be like them. And while Acciari has been able to make it work with sub-par skating, I do not think Malinoski is anywhere near physical enough to do the same with his sub-par skating.

Also seems odd that the Leafs would emphasize playoff performance and competitiveness enough to take major reaches on Minten and Cowan but then decided to take a chance on a D+1 with a poor playoff performance.

All-in-all, I had him going undrafted. He was the kind of guy that I would have kept tabs on as a potential NCAA UFA or even maybe a D+2 selection, but not someone I would have drafted based on what he did this year. And I'll be totally honest, I think the Leafs have maybe drafted one guy with top 6/4 potential in the past two years and he was also the latest pick the Leafs made in either draft (Lisowsky in the 7th round). Otherwise, we've been targeting a lot of bottom 6 potential guys who hardly even have an above average chance to make the NHL to make up for their lower upside.
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Really think he is a much better player than everyone is
giving him credit for.
 
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1742574954179.png


And his team is middle of the pack.
 
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