Leafs prospects you followed closely who became absolutely nothing

[ponder]

There are tonnes of Leafs prospects I’ve followed pretty closely who’ve become nothing. In terms of ones I was actually confident would succeed, though, who completely busted, Percy and Frattin stand out.

Honorable mention, the 2015 draft. I thought we nailed it and were likely to hit on a number of guys, but in reality it was basically just Marner. Dermott and Timashov the only other 2 players to play in an NHL game, and both kinda disappointing. Bracco, Nielsen, Dzierkals, etc., zero games :/

 

[Amadeus]

Lots of nostalgia here but a horror show as well.

Tyler Biggs, Stu Percy, Brad Ross, Sondre Olden, Matt Frattin.

Too many.

 

[jiggy35]

- Thought Reimer was destined to be a top 10 goalie after his first 3 years with the Leafs. They didn't play defence at all and he would usually save the day. Wonder how different his career would've turned out if they didn't choke in 2013.

- Thought Gauthier was going to be a future shutdown 3C that could get selke votes...LOL

- Matt Frattin looked good on that Kadri-Lupul line but never progressed.

Semi-agreed on Reimer, but I think his career has been solid given the flak he got whilst shown out here. We shoulda kept him. Pretty good stats on pretty mediocre teams and he’s still kicking it.

 

[Scion]

The big ones for me are: Justin Pogge, Travis Dermott, Jiri Tlusty, Matt Frattin, Aleksander Suglobov and Viktor Stalberg. They all had varying degrees of success but at one point I thought all of them would be top of the lineup type of players.

 

[Prominence]

I thought leafs got a steal when they traded aulie for 1st round pick carter ashton.

I thought biggs would turn into colby armstrong and then as i saw more games, i became jaded. How bad at drafting do you have to be when you take a guy projected to dish out hits doesn’t dish out hits. He had the lowest amount of passion i have ever seen from a prospect. I was confused when people were optimistic that biggs had a ppg in his d+2 in oshawa.

I thought finn was a steal until he was paired with cody donaghy in a rookie tournament and played porous defense. It was then i knew his chances were low. And then they signed cody donaghy for some reason.

Harrington for kerby rychel was funny for the leafs.

Casey Bailey was hyped even though he only scored a ppg in his senior season at alaska ncaa.

 

[TMLAM34]

Jiri Tlusty and Justin Pogge.

 

[Morbo]

Pretty much any of them, except top 10 picks. this has to be one of the worst drafting orgs in pro sports.

 

[dubplatepressure]

I always thought TJ Brennan was too good offensively to not get more than a sniff of NHL action. He was in our system for a couple years. Have to give credit to a defenseman who can go PPG in the A while posting over 100 PIMs - that's just downright impressive.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Stuart Percy - I think he would've became something pretty good if not for injuries.

Sondre Olden - Was probably more wishful thinking since we were desperate for a top C around that time.

Justin Pogge - Hard not to get hyped for a goalie who played so well at the World Juniors.

Tuuka Rask - Don't want to talk about it.

Brad Ross - I thought/was hoping he'd become our next Darcy Tucker and he had a good career in the WHL.

Tom Nilsson - Wasn't a bad skater and could move the puck and hit like a truck which sounded very promising for a D prospect.

These are just some I remember.

Rask doesn't belong on this list. It wasn't with the Leafs, but he had a very good career.

Pogge won the tournament behind a stacked Canadian team, but Rask was selected as the best goalie.

 

[LeafsandSharksfan]

Pogge was a legendary bust, I remember all the talk about him being the starter of the future while Grabovski would be our #1 centre.

I went to high school with Jesse Blacker and was always surprised he didn't do more.

 

[PromisedLand]

I had high hopes from Percy and then later on Korshkov

ofcourse Biggs was a flop knew it when they drafted him

oh well….

Happy though that Engvall 7th rounder) and Holmberg (6th rounder) seem to be contributing a bit at the NHL level

P.S. Hon mention : Bracco and Rasanen

 

[The Iceman]

Rocky Saganiuk scored 60G as a junior with 200 PIMs, 47G as a 20 year old rookie in the AHL, 24 goals as a 22 year old rookie with the Leafs and was playing with Flamboro Mott's Clamato's Sr A as a 28 year old.

Daniel Marois scored 31G as a 20 year old TML rookie, followed that up with 39G @ 21 years old. SUPERSTAR...no
he only scored 47 more goals after his age 21 season.

Miroslav Ihnacak...BUST, Vladimir Ruzicka...considered best player outside of the NHL and did score 39 for Edmonton, Czech goalie Jiri Crha was going to be our savior, Rich Costello the big prospect in the Sittler trade.

 

[Alexanderthe89]

I will die on this hill. Tyler Biggs should have played in the NHL. Since he was drafted in the 1st he was miscast as a player that had to carry a line offensively and that killed his development.

 

[ChazzMichaelMichaels]

Oh man, there was so many. Back in some of the not so great years where we kinda sat in purgatory not drafting high or having franchise players brought along a ton of false hope in prospects.

Some of my favs throughout the years:

Going way back, always hoped Kronwall would amount to more and be a decent stabilizing guy for us.

Robbie Earl at one point was our highest rated prospect and looked like a top 6 winger with tons of speed.

Dmitry Vorobiev looked like a super solid young D playing in the KHL. Wish he came over.

Stalberg looked like he was going to be an absolute beast of a power forward

Chris DiDomenico was a really fun one that we all had a ton of hope for, especially after his World Juniors.

Dale Mitchell looked hopeful of becoming a useful player.

Joel Champaigne and Stefanovich both looked like really skilled forwards with great frames to go with it.

Jerry D'amigo was a big one. He had that big World Juniors and the hype machine got going.

Blacker was an exciting pick at the time. That draft at the time was a really exciting one at the start of the Burkie years.

Everyone thought Brad Ross was a super pest that also had the ability to play. He was on those really nasty Portland Winterhawk teams and was a huge piece for them. Think we gave up our 2nd rounder and 3rd rounder the next year to take him in the 2nd round.

Percy was an exciting player. Burkie just loved him. I remember people thinking we'd draft him before the draft happened just with the way Burkie watched him so closely at the combine. Really smart player, looked like a super exciting prospect at the time.

Even Broll, Cameranesi and Nilsson got hype from that draft. Nilsson looked like a physical d-man that could move the puck. Broll a huge, physical fighter that cou8ld hopefully play, those types were really the flavour of the month back then. Cameranesi a real speedster.

Loov had a ton of hype, similar to Nilsson. Seemed like a lengthy d-man with a nice frame that could really skate.

Finn reminds me of the Percy pick a lot.

The Andrew Nielsen hype was huge. Big, physical, mean d-man that could really move the puck and had a bomb. Just couldn't skater though.

The ones that turned out after following for years was a ton of fun though. Connor Brown, Andreas Johnsson (especially after the article about his undiagnosed asthma), Engvall, Brooks. My favourite one following them for a couple years and being hopeful they turned out after the hype was Kulemin.

 

[LeafSadist]

Jeremy Williams -Leafs never really gave him a chance.

It's Jeremy time.

 

[ACC1224]

It's Jeremy time.

Wonder how many of us remember that?

Didn't it move on from Williams to Wellwood?

 

[Mess]

It's Jeremy time.

It was my friend, but it never really happened that "play the kids" was on the agenda.

When there was no Salary Cap, our Leafs would spend freely on vets so there was no real desire to promote youth with opportunities.

Oddly crumungion old Harold Ballard was so cheap to spend $$$, that it was a better time with the Leafs roster filled with youth and prospects.

 

[AvroArrow]

Josh Leivo - He truly never got a fair chance, he was great in his limited showings. Still don't understand why he never got playing time.

Joe Colborne - Big body C that played a good defensive game, I thought he'd be a Brian Boyle type of guy.

 

[Mess]

Wonder how many of us remember that?

Didn't it move on from Williams to Wellwood?

Yup that was my next pet project to make Welly into an NHLer.

 

[Apex Predator]

Oh man, there was so many. Back in some of the not so great years where we kinda sat in purgatory not drafting high or having franchise players brought along a ton of false hope in prospects.

Some of my favs throughout the years:

Going way back, always hoped Kronwall would amount to more and be a decent stabilizing guy for us.

Robbie Earl at one point was our highest rated prospect and looked like a top 6 winger with tons of speed.

Dmitry Vorobiev looked like a super solid young D playing in the KHL. Wish he came over.

Stalberg looked like he was going to be an absolute beast of a power forward

Chris DiDomenico was a really fun one that we all had a ton of hope for, especially after his World Juniors.

Dale Mitchell looked hopeful of becoming a useful player.

Joel Champaigne and Stefanovich both looked like really skilled forwards with great frames to go with it.

Jerry D'amigo was a big one. He had that big World Juniors and the hype machine got going.

Blacker was an exciting pick at the time. That draft at the time was a really exciting one at the start of the Burkie years.

Everyone thought Brad Ross was a super pest that also had the ability to play. He was on those really nasty Portland Winterhawk teams and was a huge piece for them. Think we gave up our 2nd rounder and 3rd rounder the next year to take him in the 2nd round.

Percy was an exciting player. Burkie just loved him. I remember people thinking we'd draft him before the draft happened just with the way Burkie watched him so closely at the combine. Really smart player, looked like a super exciting prospect at the time.

Even Broll, Cameranesi and Nilsson got hype from that draft. Nilsson looked like a physical d-man that could move the puck. Broll a huge, physical fighter that cou8ld hopefully play, those types were really the flavour of the month back then. Cameranesi a real speedster.

Loov had a ton of hype, similar to Nilsson. Seemed like a lengthy d-man with a nice frame that could really skate.

Finn reminds me of the Percy pick a lot.

The Andrew Nielsen hype was huge. Big, physical, mean d-man that could really move the puck and had a bomb. Just couldn't skater though.

The ones that turned out after following for years was a ton of fun though. Connor Brown, Andreas Johnsson (especially after the article about his undiagnosed asthma), Engvall, Brooks. My favourite one following them for a couple years and being hopeful they turned out after the hype was Kulemin.

I always think back to those old threads and think are we doing the same with our current prospects? Everyone was so hyped with the Marner draft class and really only Marner developed into anything. Dermott is serviceable and Timashov is meh.

 

[Subway Schenn]

Gustavsson, Earl, Percy (we named our cat after him). Thought Earl was going to become a 30 goal scorer.

 

[therealkoho]

View attachment 623600

80 goals and 149 points in 70 games in his draft year and 91 goals and 180 points in D+1 in 63 games.

View attachment 623601

View attachment 623606

Could never understand what the Leafs didn't see in Bruce, guy had all the goalscorer tools, he would've excelled in today's NHL

Another guy I thought was going to be great Leaf was Jeff Ware 6'4" dman with a Pronger like shot but not as dirty/mean. Saw him play in the Memorial Cup vs Lethbridge Broncos and Sens #1 OA Chris Phillips and thought wow this guy isn't as quick as Phillips but the shot! Leafs took him at 15. Interesting note Peter Sykora was taken 3 picks later.

 

[therealkoho]

Jiri Tlusty and Justin Pogge.

Tlusty possibly the NHLs first phone pic of a slightly "ahem" personal nature

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Robbie Earl. For a while, I thought he was the slightly shorter version of Erik Cole lol

 

[Mess]

Could never understand what the Leafs didn't see in Bruce, guy had all the goalscorer tools, he would've excelled in today's NHL

Another guy I thought was going to be great Leaf was Jeff Ware 6'4" dman with a Pronger like shot but not as dirty/mean. Saw him play in the Memorial Cup vs Lethbridge Broncos and Sens #1 OA Chris Phillips and thought wow this guy isn't as quick as Phillips but the shot! Leafs took him at 15. Interesting note Peter Sykora was taken 3 picks later.

Checkout how BB was doing at the AHL/CHL professional level and the little opportunity the Leafs were giving him.

"Play the Kids" fell on death ears ... Can you imagine the Leafs organization having a player in their system today producing for the Farm team at those levels with so limited opportunity to to do it for the Leafs?