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Prospect Info: Marlies/Prospects Thread

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Morgs said:
I love Kral. If anyone remembers, I had him ranked at the top of the 2nd round on draft day 2018 based almost exclusively on his advanced stats being downright outrageous. I can pretty much guarantee I was higher than him than basically everyone else in the world lol.

My issue with him (and although he's FINALLY doing it) is that he never played in a pro league prior to his age 21 season, and really has only dominated against kids. It's amazing to see him do that, but he was clearly too good for the WHL before his overage season, and the Leafs didn't think it was worth sending him to the ECHL or the AHL.

I'm glad to see him now in the Czech pro league getting big minutes, and by all accounts playing very well. It definitely will get me back on him as it was the necessary next step in his development, but I think it's a bold statement saying he's ahead of Kokkonen right now; a guy that played his first pro game in his 15 year old season (and is finally dominating in his 19 year old season). Kokkonen has played 8 more pro games THIS YEAR in a better league than Kral, and is 1.25 years younger. Even Villeneuve putting up massive points in the Q in his 17 year old season has an argument to be ahead of Kral today. Age & comp are so vital.

Although I probably am moving up Kokkonen into the next tier (with Abramov, Hallander, Niemela, Hirvonen, Abruzzese) if he keeps up this performance, today I'd have Kral in the same tier as Kokkonen, Villeneuve, Hollowell, and possibly (soon-to-be added) Rindell.
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So Kral playing in the WHL was an issue, while Villeneuve playing in the QMJHL arguably puts him ahead? I can’t say I agree with that logic.
 
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Morgs said:
Hollowell still has ways to go, but I could see him playing 100 games (and being useful), even if it takes a strange path to the NHL. I could see his first "full" season being around the age of 25.
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Each fan has their guy from the secondary grouping of defense prospects. I really like Hollowell. I like his skating and his hands carrying the puck and attacking off the rush. He can move the puck well. I think he's got enough bite to over come his size deficit and I think he can become stable enough defensively to play semi-significant minutes at the NHL level given the rest of his skill set. He has had two pretty respectable post draft seasons, I expect him to move closer to the NHL this season.
 
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Cor said:
So Kral playing in the WHL was an issue, while Villeneuve playing in the QMJHL arguably puts him ahead? I can’t say I agree with that logic.
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No, Kral playing his overage season in the WHL was an issue- especially with him being an October birthdate. We had many different options besides sending him back for an overage year while he already dominated the WHL twice prior and the Leafs clearly didn't think it was a good idea signing him to play in the ECHL/AHL/Czech league. Villeneuve on the other hand just played and had a very good season at 17. Villeneuve can't go anywhere else except Europe. Kral had to leave his league because he outgrew it.

The 16-20 years are so vital that a year like that not playing against pro literally could have made him stagnate as a prospect. I'm glad to see him not only playing, but thriving against men, but this is something we needed to see at the beginning of last year. I'm still a huge fan of him as a prospect, and think he has a NHL future, I just needed to see him make the next step. We have to remember with his Oct birthday he's technically more than a year behind most "future NHL prospects" his age.

If anyone follows my prospect train of thought whatsoever two of my biggest factors when considering prospects are age and level of competition. It's why I find Joe Miller & Wyatt Schingoethe interesting prospects (Sept/August 2002 birthdays playing in the USHL) and John Fusco & Ryan Tverberg (June 2001 USHL & Jan 2002 BCHL respectively) as players that need to have gigantic seasons to be considered in that "interesting" tier. It's why I consider Mikhail Abramov a much better prospect than Nick Abruzzese. Players all develop at their own pace, but it's a much better sign seeing players dominate leagues they're too young/the right age for compared to dominating a league they're too old for.
 
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Lehtonen with an assist v.s. Korshkov today.

SDA picked up an assist in a 7-5 loss.

Holmberg, Hallander pointless so far midway through their games.
 
A lot of Leaf hockey tomorrow:

Nov. 20 (all times EST):

7AM: Loponen (U20 SM-sarja)
9AM: Amirov (KHL) (injured?)
9AM: Ovchinnikov (MHL) v.s. Akhtyamov (heard he was called up to K though?)
10AM: Kizimov (VHL)
11AM: Kokkonen (U20 SM-sarja)
11:30AM: Niemela (Liiga)
11:30AM Hirvonen (Liiga)
11:30AM Rasanen (Liiga)
11:30AM Hollowell (Mestis)
1:45PM Thornton & Herzog (Suiss NL)
6PM Villeneuve (QMJHL)
8:05PM Miller (USHL)
8:05PM Schingoethe (USHL)

Some of these games maybe cancelled/postponed for COVID, though.
 
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Love the mini-debate going on in the past couple pages.

No potshots, no trolling, no trashing our own prospects... just genuine and honest debate about their progress.

As someone who can't follow prospects as closely as I'd like, it is great to hear that both Kral and Kokkonen are progressing nicely.
 
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htpwn said:
Love the mini-debate going on in the past couple pages.

No potshots, no trolling, no trashing our own prospects... just genuine and honest debate about their progress.

As someone who can't follow prospects as closely as I'd like, it is great to hear that both Kral and Kokkonen are progressing nicely.
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The Leafs prospect/draft threads are the most civilized part on Leafs HF as far as I am concerned. Most of the posters know what they are talking about, and it is obvious to weed out who clearly knows nothing.

Trolls don't care enough to know anything about our prospects. They wait for them to make the NHL before trolling on them.
 
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SeaOfBlue said:
The Leafs prospect/draft threads are the most civilized part on Leafs HF as far as I am concerned. Most of the posters know what they are talking about, and it is obvious to weed out who clearly knows nothing.

Trolls don't care enough to know anything about our prospects. They wait for them to make the NHL before trolling on them.
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That Freebird guy has been gone for quite some time though.
 
leafsfan2point0 said:
How much bigger has Abramov gotten since being drafted? Looks like he’s grown
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Listed as 6'0", 185lbs on the QMJHL website. That is probably going to be the weight he plays at.

NHL Records listed him at 5'10", 161 lbs. I think he was at least 5'11" when he was drafted but the weight is pretty accurate.
 
Idk if someone mentioned it, but Koster is playing his first NCAA game today for UMinnesota (started at 830)

He's definitely an interesting guy to watch this season.
 
htpwn said:
Love the mini-debate going on in the past couple pages.

No potshots, no trolling, no trashing our own prospects... just genuine and honest debate about their progress.

As someone who can't follow prospects as closely as I'd like, it is great to hear that both Kral and Kokkonen are progressing nicely.
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I'll echo that... It's refreshing, in this social media world of trolls and arguing to find at least one thread where people discuss and debate things...Much appreciated as is the constant info and updates on our prospects.
 
htpwn said:
Love the mini-debate going on in the past couple pages.

No potshots, no trolling, no trashing our own prospects... just genuine and honest debate about their progress.

As someone who can't follow prospects as closely as I'd like, it is great to hear that both Kral and Kokkonen are progressing nicely.
Click to expand...

We'll be fine as long as they're on ELCs.

T-minus 2 years before we start arguing about which one of them is more overpaid.
 
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Morgs said:
Idk if someone mentioned it, but Koster is playing his first NCAA game today for UMinnesota (started at 830)

He's definitely an interesting guy to watch this season.
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Definitely a guy that has slipped through the cracks in terms of the casual Leafs fan.

Had some really big games internationally in his draft year.
 
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Koster can really fly that is for sure.

Also quite small, especially for a defenseman.
 
Solid debut for Koster. Was playing RD on the 3rd pair beside Staudacher but eventually swapped pairs with Lacombe (no special units). That blue line is pretty deep with Brinkman, Lacombe, Faber and Johnson. I think he played only like two 20 second shifts in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd period and his shifts throughout were short. Overall pretty quiet and mistake free. Going to be hard to get minutes behind those guys moving forward.

+1 on the Gophers 2nd goal. Really smooth skater with the puck on his stick and has great risk assessment/decision making on the breakout. His explosiveness is lacking and is still pretty weak on his skates, though. Should be fixable with added strength.

Seemed like whenever he was on the ice, Minnesota had some of their best chances for.
 
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Saint Blue said:
Solid debut for Koster. Was playing RD on the 3rd pair beside Staudacher but eventually swapped pairs with Lacombe (no special units). That blue line is pretty deep with Brinkman, Lacombe, Faber and Johnson. I think he played only like two 20 second shifts in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd period and his shifts throughout were short. Overall pretty quiet and mistake free. Going to be hard to get minutes behind those guys moving forward.

+1 on the Gophers 2nd goal. Really smooth skater with the puck on his stick and has great risk assessment/decision making on the breakout. His explosiveness is lacking and is still pretty weak on his skates, though. Should be fixable with added strength.

Seemed like whenever he was on the ice, Minnesota had some of their best chances for.
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Thanks for the info. One of our more fascinating propects.
 
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