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LD Travis Dermott - Erie Otters, OHL (2015, 34th, TOR)

Stralman and Vlasic are pretty good comparables, though I’d say he’s a little more biased towards offence, and a little less towards defence. He actually plays a fair bit like Rielly too, though in that comparison he’s more defensive, less offensive.

It’s very early to try to project how good he’ll be, but he’s been impresssive so far. I’m slightly cautious, having been through guys like Stuart Percy who started strong, then totally flamed out, but my guess is that he’s very likely to be a quality top 4 dman, with an outside shot at becoming a top pairing dman.

I do think there’s a chance he gets sent down once everyone gets healthy. Rielly/Hainsey/Gards/Zaitsev are all guaranteed spots, so it’s between Borgman, Polak, Carrick and Dermott for the last 2 spots. My personal choice would be Borg and Dermott, but Babs loves him some Polak, and he also dislikes playing lefties of the right side. Seems very possible that Babs goes with Borg and Polak for the bottom pairing.
 
To me there is no comparison between Dermot and Percy. Dermot has NHL skating ability. And I have been impressed by his "man strength" by able to pin opponents against the boards. To those worried about Polak playing (or not) think long term.
A couple of years from now....Reilly, Zaitsev, Dermot, Borgman, Liljegren, couild be an effective cost efficient group....Yea there has to a couple of additions, but look 3 draftees, 2 European UFAs signing, could Ferguson Jr, Burke or Nonis ever have done this?
 
ponder said:
Stralman and Vlasic are pretty good comparables, though I’d say he’s a little more biased towards offence, and a little less towards defence. He actually plays a fair bit like Rielly too, though in that comparison he’s more defensive, less offensive.

It’s very early to try to project how good he’ll be, but he’s been impresssive so far. I’m slightly cautious, having been through guys like Stuart Percy who started strong, then totally flamed out, but my guess is that he’s very likely to be a quality top 4 dman, with an outside shot at becoming a top pairing dman.

I do think there’s a chance he gets sent down once everyone gets healthy. Rielly/Hainsey/Gards/Zaitsev are all guaranteed spots, so it’s between Borgman, Polak, Carrick and Dermott for the last 2 spots. My personal choice would be Borg and Dermott, but Babs loves him some Polak, and he also dislikes playing lefties of the right side. Seems very possible that Babs goes with Borg and Polak for the bottom pairing.
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Mark Giordano is my favourite comparison for Dermott. Both are stocky two-way D with a bite to their games. It might be wishful thinking on the offensive end, but their styles are quite similar (i.e. way they walk the line, shifty skating with the puck, quick wrister from the point, etc.).
 
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Dermott adds the element of hitting too... Him and Vlasic have almost the exact same hit total but Dermott has only played 8 games this season and Vlasic has played 47
 
Got his first NHL goal today, and it was a beauty. Someone who isn’t technologically challenged, please post the video.

Working hard in the offensive corner, he comes back and catches Matt Barzal in stride from behind (an amazing achievement in itself), stripping him of the puck and making a heads-up play to Nylander in the corner he was just in before going straight to the net and fighting off Barzal, who is right on him, to get his stick down for a perfect, difficult tip-in.
 
TK 421 said:
2015 draft keeps on giving.
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Amazing game. I said it in our post game thread. Ray Ferraro who I think is one of the better commentators in hockey was talking about Dermott's similarities with Mark Giordano. I'd be very happy if Dermott is a long-term top 4 defender, which is a win even at the pick we traded down from in most drafts (24th). If he can reach the level of Giordano I would be absolutely ecstatic. He has some similarities in that they are short but stocky (and very strong) guys, with great skating and play aggressive in closing gaps or pinching, but their IQ allows them to play this way. I'm not expecting it as Giordano has been a top 20 defender in the NHL for the last 5 years, but I do find the similarities promising.
 
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99664987 said:
Got his first NHL goal today, and it was a beauty. Someone who isn’t technologically challenged, please post the video.

Working hard in the offensive corner, he comes back and catches Matt Barzal in stride from behind (an amazing achievement in itself), stripping him of the puck and making a heads-up play to Nylander in the corner he was just in before going straight to the net and fighting off Barzal, who is right on him, to get his stick down for a perfect, difficult tip-in.
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Can't find a video or gif yet that does it justice. He started the play in the defensive zone even.
 
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Goals against / 60 minutes among Leafs defencemen:

Dermott - 1.037
Gardiner - 2.077
Hainsey - 2.154
Zaitsev - 2.176
Carrick - 2.341
Rielly - 2.506
Polak - 2.928
Borgman - 2.935

Obviously it's still a small sample size, plus different players get easier/tougher minutes (Rielly/Hainsey have the toughest minutes on the team). Regardless, he's FAR ahead of the rest of the blueline, regardless of usage. He's looked very very solid defensively since coming up, and he's starting to use his skating ability and vision offensively as well.

I don't think he'll ever have elite offence, but I really think there's a decent chance he becomes a top pairing guy (potential to be very very good defensively + decent offensively). He's been a #1 defenceman on one of the top AHL teams since he was 20 years old, and now at 21 is already looking like one of our best all-around defencemen in the NHL (granted, small sample size).

I think he's played his way onto the team, I don't see how they could send him down now. Borgman I believe is elligible to go down without waivers, so it could be him once everyone's healthy. Or we could see one of Carrick/Polak waived or traded.
 
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I am still going to temper my expectations on Dermott. He is playing unbelievably well but we've seen far too many times when young D stand out early and then go through a couple years of growing phase. I know Leafs fans don't like to be patient but we may need to be with this kid as he is looking very promising.
 
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Mugzy97 said:
I am still going to temper my expectations on Dermott. He is playing unbelievably well but we've seen far too many times when young D stand out early and then go through a couple years of growing phase. I know Leafs fans don't like to be patient but we may need to be with this kid as he is looking very promising.
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Percy is who you are referring to I assume. The difference between Dermott and Percy is the tools. Percy could not skate even close to as well as Dermott and Dermott's decision making is top notch. It doesn't really matter to me how many points he puts up, his defensively play is very very good, especially for a kid his age. He has shown he can defend very well at the NHL level.
 
TT1 said:
Woulda been a Hab if i was drafting for MTL.. but i woulda missed out on S. Aho :laugh:. As much as it pains me to see him in a Leafs jersey you gotta admit when a studs a stud..
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Props to you. You called it early in OP. I believe you said pre-draft, you had him in your 1st round.
 
Small NHL sample size, but really liked what I've seen from Dermott. Cool when pressured, moves the puck well, smart in the offensive zone, and tries to throw hip checks (the dying art). If he can maintain this kind of play once the shininess of joining the NHL wears off, the Leafs have a real good one.
 
Mugzy97 said:
I am still going to temper my expectations on Dermott. He is playing unbelievably well but we've seen far too many times when young D stand out early and then go through a couple years of growing phase. I know Leafs fans don't like to be patient but we may need to be with this kid as he is looking very promising.
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Well I think the most promising thing is that he's been better defensively than offensively. In the past, we've had young defencemen come in who have shown solid offensive potential, but struggled defensively (e.g. Rielly/Gardiner). We haven't really had any come in that I can think off who looked this solid defensively right off the bat, which I think leads to a steadier development.

He's also been brought along reasonably slowly. This is his draft year +3, and he's had the chance to play in ~100 AHL games since being drafted. So definitely not as rushed as guys like Schenn, Tlusty, etc. And at this point, if he's playing better than 2/3s of our NHL blueline, it's hard to justify sending him back down. I don't really think the Leafs have been impatient with him, he's really forced himself onto the roster with his good play.
 
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