Prospect Info: Marlies, Cyclones, and Prospect Discussion

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I think we can expect some backfilling with college and euro FA’s who can step in.
Grebs and Minten are nice prospects, but haven’t excelled at the A level.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Leafs like some UDFA options as much as they liked those two.
You have to think they have their eyes on someone
That said, it's a lacklustre crop in the NCAA this year
 
They were pretty vanilla. Solid prospects but a far cry from blue chippers or even that exciting. I never understood the hype around Greb, but he was a fun player for sure. He was awful defensively and seems lost without the puck.

With that said, the Marlies are going to be very boring to watch for awhile.
Minten was a 2nd. rounder, and Grebenkin a 5th. rounder.

They can be replaced via the draft, where they actually received 2 back in the deal.

Maybe they get a 5th. for Timmins and Dewar?
 
They were pretty vanilla. Solid prospects but a far cry from blue chippers or even that exciting. I never understood the hype around Greb, but he was a fun player for sure. He was awful defensively and seems lost without the puck.

With that said, the Marlies are going to be very boring to watch for awhile.
Agreed.
Greb hasn’t been very impactful in the A.
Great quotes, can play with energy, great KHL numbers, but not a finished product.
If there’s anything that’s cost effective to backfill, it’s where he projects.
 
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You have to think they have their eyes on someone
That said, it's a lacklustre crop in the NCAA this year
Linked to Luke Haymes and Karsen Dorwart so far and I gotta think TJ Hughes will end up linked here, and there’s gonna be other guys.
It’s never a slam-dunk avenue for players, but not inconceivable to think one or two of those guys could progress well.
 
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Linked to Luke Haymes and Karsen Dorwart so far and I gotta think TJ Hughes will end up linked here, and there’s gonna be other guys.
It’s never a slam-dunk avenue for players, but not inconceivable to think one or two of those guys could progress well.

And they just signed an overager the other day.

Many paths to the destination.
 
Leafs add 4th, 5th, and 6th round pick.
Looks like the 4th goes to Bos.
So, six picks for the 25 draft, no first or 4th, two fifths.
26 first to BOS is top5 protected.
26 draft card limited to 3 picks I think (3rd 5th 6th).
27 first out with protection, 27 sixth in.
 
Leafs added Reese Johnson from the Wild for future considerations yesterday too: Reese Johnson - Stats, Contract, Salary & More Actually has more NHL games in his career than AHL (144 vs 132), but mostly on recent Blackhawks teams... So, a 14th (or 15th...) forward type. Hardly scores in the AHL either. Presumably to add a bit of (veteran) depth to the Marlies with Minten/Grebenkin gone. (And Reeves too, hehe. Wonder if he'll actually suit up for the Marlies at any point, or if he'll pull a Simmonds)

TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League Hirvonen with a goal last night. Can presume he'll at least be getting a fair bit of ice-time to close out the year. 2A for Quillan, whose offensive output is pleasantly surprising me. Niemela with an assist woot (was curious if he'd get shipped for, like, a 7th rounder at the deadline, but maybe only when he's an RFA in the offseason, or just outright released). AA yanked, Hildeby ok in relief.

Minten... absolute floor was 4C, and I say that as both an insult and compliment.

Grebenkin was obviously a lot of fun, and a nice late pick, but I was definitely wondering if he had the hockey sense to make it as a full-time NHLer. (This view may be coloured by seeing him getting absolutely ripped into by the Marlies coaching staff and benched one game...) Can allow for some growing/adaptation pains I guess, but his offensive numbers were kinda meh too. Will certainly be curious how he turns out with the Flyers!

Maybe some 'green shoots' for Peksa since the new year: 6-2-0, 2.01 GAA, and a .924 SV%

Miller back in the lineup for Harvard after maybe an injury layoff. Put up 3 points last night. I'm still holding a candle for him, damnit.

Moldenhauer finally gets his 2nd goal of the year... Kloke surprisingly got some pretty positive comments from his coaching staff earlier this year, but hard to see anything positive from 9 points in 28 games as a sophomore (an old one too). I think I saw another prospect writer speculate he could look into a NCAA transfer...
*puckpedia doesnt show the 2025 5th from the McCabe trade
That pick was included in the trade for Joel Edmundson (plus our 2024 3rd rounder).

On that trade, the 5th rounder we did keep was used on Holinka (0.95 pts/g in the WHL this year. We'll see). The 5th rounder we got for later flipping Lafferty was used on Timofei Obvintsev (SV% has declined a bit in Russia juniors this year, but can leave him in the 'goalies are voodoo' camp for now).

It's marginal, but I do like when we squeeze a couple mid round picks out of the big trades, as we did with Laughton. Partly for selfish prospect-watching reasons, of course...
 
Last edited:
Quinla
Leafs added Reese Johnson from the Wild for future considerations yesterday too: Reese Johnson - Stats, Contract, Salary & More Actually has more NHL games in his career than AHL (144 vs 132), but mostly on recent Blackhawks teams... So, a 14th (or 15th...) forward type. Hardly scores in the AHL either. Presumably to add a bit of (veteran) depth to the Marlies with Minten/Grebenkin gone. (And Reeves too, hehe. Wonder if he'll actually suit up for the Marlies at any point, or if he'll pull a Simmonds)

TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League Hirvonen with a goal last night. Can presume he'll at least be getting a fair bit of ice-time to close out the year. 2A for Quillan, whose offensive output is pleasantly surprising me. Niemela with an assist woot (was curious if he'd get shipped for, like, a 7th rounder at the deadline, but maybe only when he's an RFA in the offseason, or just outright released). AA yanked, Hildeby ok in relief.

Minten... absolute floor was 4C, and I say that as both an insult and compliment.

Grebenkin was obviously a lot of fun, and a nice late pick, but I was definitely wondering if he had the hockey sense to make it as a full-time NHLer. (This view may be coloured by seeing him getting absolutely ripped into by the Marlies coaching staff and benched one game...) Can allow for some growing/adaptation pains I guess, but his offensive numbers were kinda meh too. Will certainly be curious how he turns out with the Flyers!

Maybe some 'green shoots' for Peksa since the new year: 6-2-0, 2.01 GAA, and a .924 SV%

Miller back in the lineup for Harvard after maybe an injury layoff. Put up 3 points last night. I'm still holding a candle for him, damnit.

Moldenhauer finally gets his 2nd goal of the year... Kloke surprisingly got some pretty positive comments from his coaching staff earlier this year, but hard to see anything positive from 9 points in 28 games as a sophomore (an old one too). I think I saw another prospect writer speculate he could look into a NCAA transfer...

That pick was included in the trade for Joel Edmundson (plus our 2024 3rd rounder).

On that trade, the 5th rounder we did keep was used on Holinka (0.95 pts/g in the WHL this year. We'll see). The 5th rounder we got for later flipping Lafferty was used on Timofei Obvintsev (SV% has declined a bit in Russia juniors this year, but can leave him in the 'goalies are voodoo' camp for now).

It's marginal, but I do like when we squeeze a couple mid round picks out of the big trades, as we did with Laughton. Partly for selfish prospect-watching reasons, of course...

Looks like Quillan ended up getting a goal and assist so maybe they changed it post-game.
 
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Post Deadline prospect ranking.
  1. Cowan
  2. Danford
  3. Niemela
  4. Hildeby
  5. Steeves
  6. Akhtyamov
  7. Chadwick
  8. Quillian
  9. Hirvonen
  10. Villeneuve
  11. Johansson
  12. Tverberg
  13. McCuE
  14. Holinka
  15. Kokkonen
Not great lol.
Bad drafting and a lack of draft capital = trash

However adding guys like Valis and Weber as unsigned additions which you haven’t included could make an impact in some role.

They need to make more smart choices like that. So many unsigned late bloomers make big contributions in the NHL like McMann and Marchment.
 
Post Deadline prospect ranking.
  1. Cowan
  2. Danford
  3. Niemela
  4. Hildeby
  5. Steeves
  6. Akhtyamov
  7. Chadwick
  8. Quillian
  9. Hirvonen
  10. Villeneuve
  11. Johansson
  12. Tverberg
  13. McCue
  14. Holinka
  15. Kokkonen
Not great lol.
Really only 2 guys who have trade value of top 60 picks (Cowan a mid first) and Danford (late 1st to mid 2nd)

They both are realistically only ones with an outlook that is positive and expected to be more than a marginal regular player for us long-term (if kept)

2025 2nd we decided to keep so hopefully can add a sneaky good prospect this summer
 
Really only 2 guys who have trade value of top 60 picks (Cowan a mid first) and Danford (late 1st to mid 2nd)

They both are realistically only ones with an outlook that is positive and expected to be more than a marginal regular player for us long-term (if kept)

2025 2nd we decided to keep so hopefully can add a sneaky good prospect this summer

They have 7 picks, and some players picked after the 3rd. round do make the NHL.

If you have a pick you have a chance.
 
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Post Deadline prospect ranking.
  1. Cowan
  2. Danford
  3. Niemela
  4. Hildeby
  5. Steeves
  6. Akhtyamov
  7. Chadwick
  8. Quillian
  9. Hirvonen
  10. Villeneuve
  11. Johansson
  12. Tverberg
  13. McCue
  14. Holinka
  15. Kokkonen
Not great lol.
It's not great if you look at it like we're a rebuilding team needing high end prospects who can be top 6 players. For what we need some look very promising and could potentially save us a lot of draft picks in the future.
 
Post Deadline prospect ranking.
  1. Cowan
  2. Danford
  3. Niemela
  4. Hildeby
  5. Steeves
  6. Akhtyamov
  7. Chadwick
  8. Quillian
  9. Hirvonen
  10. Villeneuve
  11. Johansson
  12. Tverberg
  13. McCue
  14. Holinka
  15. Kokkonen
Not great lol.
There's a weird balance where 3-15 isn't particularly great and you can't even project any of them to prominent roles with any real probability; but they aren't irrelevant either. All have shown something at some point.

In a contending window, other teams will try (and successfully) acquire the Minten's, Grebenkin's, 1st's in your pool and won't actively seek out trades for players in that 3-15. It makes increasing the depth of that prospect tier and putting the time into these types important. These are the guys (very few of them) that slow-cook in your system and eventually seize a depth opportunity in your lineup at age 23-25. Some, probabaly most, will fizzle out before then or get to that point and not do much; but there will be cases where guys run with it - like a McMann (who was more irrelevant than that entire list at the same age). There are plenty of examples, but a guy like Ross Colton did the same thing in Tampa and now Colorado.

I personally won't discount those secondary, non-marquee names because they could be the ones who actually do play for the Leafs at some point in this competitive window. Many top guys are traded well before then.
 
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McCue scores 5 minutes into his first game since Feb 17

Edit: two more in the 2nd for the hatty, 30 goals in 50 games
We're going to need a couple of these long shots to hit, given our GM seems to share the draft smaft mindset with good old Cliff Fletcher.
 

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