Prospect Info: Matt Finn

[Leafidelity]

He was slated as a first round pick and fell, I don't think anyone would say he was picked too high.

 

[Dreakmur]

I love how people say we selected him too high
I could make the same point about Rielly based on where other d man are in his draft class

The leafs do most of their damage after that draft players.

 

[Mystifo]

Why do people think that a skating instructor is going to change a bad skating player into an NHL skating player...He struggled with the speed of the game at the AHL level....He is a very smart player and because of that he may make the NHL...

I said it before when we drafted him....we selected him to high.

Well Barb has helped NHL players in the past work on their first stride which is crucial for an NHL D man. From the words that guys like MSL, JVR, etc have said about skating coaches they can really help you become better at that first stride. It all comes down to if Finn wants to put the effort into improving.

 

[mikebel111*]

Well Barb has helped NHL players in the past work on their first stride which is crucial for an NHL D man. From the words that guys like MSL, JVR, etc have said about skating coaches they can really help you become better at that first stride. It all comes down to if Finn wants to put the effort into improving.

Yup and knowing the character of Finn, he does work very hard

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Finn is a bit of a project, but one thing he has that will never be a project is his hockey IQ. This will aid him making the NHL, once he figures out his limitations that his skating brings.

 

[Bullseye]

I love how people say we selected him too high
I could make the same point about Rielly based on where other d man are in his draft class

I know but can you really tell the difference between Finn and Nilsson right now. Nilsson is older by a year I believe. Both around the same height and weight with slightly different portfolio's. Nilsson was drafted much later.

It is possible to still support a player and establish that he was likely a late 2nd or early 3rd type of pick that we took early 2nd?

Where you get picked doesn't matter it's what you bring to the table. Hicketts may be a good example if he makes it with Detroit.

Ideally you want to have a few Claude Giroux's late in your 1st rnd once in a blue moon.

 

[Cor]

I think Nonis told a story, about how they were at the draft table and at about pick 16 or so, they started saying Finn would go next, and next, and next, and the first round ended. Then the next day they did the same thing until next thing they knew, it was their pick in the second round.

And they drafted him.

 

[diceman934]

I think Nonis told a story, about how they were at the draft table and at about pick 16 or so, they started saying Finn would go next, and next, and next, and the first round ended. Then the next day they did the same thing until next thing they knew, it was their pick in the second round.

And they drafted him

There is a very good reason that other teams passed on him.....he has bad feet.....I would love to see him be a big part of our future but I just do not see it.

Also this is for all who think that a player can improve there bad feet....it is very hard to improve bad feet...to make enough difference in a players game....his lateral movement is not at the AHL level yet. For a forward it is no big deal for a D man it is huge. He has aslo been working with a power skater for a long while now.

 

[diceman934]

Well Barb has helped NHL players in the past work on their first stride which is crucial for an NHL D man. From the words that guys like MSL, JVR, etc have said about skating coaches they can really help you become better at that first stride. It all comes down to if Finn wants to put the effort into improving.

It is his foot work that is bad....poor lateral movement and slow feet....he has also been working with Barb since we drafted him as well as other power skating instructors before that.

 

[Atomos2]

FFS. So a dman busts at 20 years of age because he's struggling in his first season. Whatever happened to the saying dmen take longer to develop? Halfway through his rookie season and you are already calling a quits on his potential.

I stand by everything I said a year ago. He will need 2-3 years to develop and he will be ready for the NHL. He's a rookie right now. A struggling rookie but a ROOKIE

 

[Mess]

FFS. So a dman busts at 20 years of age because he's struggling in his first season. Whatever happened to the saying dmen take longer to develop? Halfway through his rookie season and you are already calling a quits on his potential.

I stand by everything I said a year ago. He will need 2-3 years to develop and he will be ready for the NHL. He's a rookie right now. A struggling rookie but a ROOKIE

Matt Finn is considered one of Leafs top 5 prospects along with Nylander, Gauthier, Leivo and Percy.

 

[Atomos2]

Matt Finn is considered one of Leafs top 5 prospects along with Nylander, Gauthier, Leivo and Percy.

But he's also a defenceman trying to adapt into a new league where he now has to defend against men. The finished product should be whats important, development isnt linear. People are making too big a deal out of his skating. Its one minor criticism that got blown way out of proportion

 

[sda]

I think Nonis told a story, about how they were at the draft table and at about pick 16 or so, they started saying Finn would go next, and next, and next, and the first round ended. Then the next day they did the same thing until next thing they knew, it was their pick in the second round.

And they drafted him.

This says a lot about the leafs scouting deficiencies

 

[hotpaws]

But he's also a defenceman trying to adapt into a new league where he now has to defend against men. The finished product should be whats important, development isnt linear. People are making too big a deal out of his skating. Its one minor criticism that got blown way out of proportion

So being a very sub par skater is now considered a minor criticism ?

I don't know whether the kid will bust or not but i'm getting tired of the same excuses to defend some of our under performing prospects .

 

[ULF_55]

But he's also a defenceman trying to adapt into a new league where he now has to defend against men. The finished product should be whats important, development isnt linear. People are making too big a deal out of his skating. Its one minor criticism that got blown way out of proportion

He's a rookie in the pros, Kadri a top 10 pick spent almost 4 seasons of pro-development in the AHL before he became a full time NHL. Finn is a 2nd. rounder, plays defense, never made the WJC team, and has a known mobility issue let's give him a few years before he's labeled anything as a professional hockey player.

He likely was overrated by some (talk of contending for a spot in the NHL this year) but why in the world would anyone want to make a call on a 2nd. rounder who's played a total of 21 professional games.

We do know it isn't just Leafs' prospect that get labeled quickly/prematurely Finn's draft class is for the most part 20 years old. Last year they could qualify for U20 tournaments, and this year some want to write them off?

Patience, you aren't a NHL star after a half a season, nor AHL bust after 21 games.

 

[ponder]

He's a rookie in the pros, Kadri a top 10 pick spent almost 4 seasons of pro-development in the AHL before he became a full time NHL. Finn is a 2nd. rounder, plays defense, never made the WJC team, and has a known mobility issue let's give him a few years before he's labeled anything as a professional hockey player.

He likely was overrated by some (talk of contending for a spot in the NHL this year) but why in the world would anyone want to make a call on a 2nd. rounder who's played a total of 21 professional games.

We do know it isn't just Leafs' prospect that get labeled quickly/prematurely Finn's draft class is for the most part 20 years old. Last year they could qualify for U20 tournaments, and this year some want to write them off?

Patience, you aren't a NHL star after a half a season, nor AHL bust after 21 games.

+1 to all of this. Let him spend a few years in the A, try to improve his footspeed and other weaknesses, then we'll see where he's at. He's 20, that's damn young, especially for a dman. If he's not a good AHLer at 23, he likely won't amount to much, but that's a long ways away, let's give him a few years.

 

[Atomos2]

He's a rookie in the pros, Kadri a top 10 pick spent almost 4 seasons of pro-development in the AHL before he became a full time NHL. Finn is a 2nd. rounder, plays defense, never made the WJC team, and has a known mobility issue let's give him a few years before he's labeled anything as a professional hockey player.

He likely was overrated by some (talk of contending for a spot in the NHL this year) but why in the world would anyone want to make a call on a 2nd. rounder who's played a total of 21 professional games.

We do know it isn't just Leafs' prospect that get labeled quickly/prematurely Finn's draft class is for the most part 20 years old. Last year they could qualify for U20 tournaments, and this year some want to write them off?

Patience, you aren't a NHL star after a half a season, nor AHL bust after 21 games.

Yes! Exactly!

So being a very sub par skater is now considered a minor criticism ?

I don't know whether the kid will bust or not but i'm getting tired of the same excuses to defend some of our under performing prospects .

Yes it is. The main problem I saw when I watched him at Copps a few weeks ago was his mind hadn't adapted to the pace of the game yet and they were giving him way too many minutes being paired up with Macwilliam. He got tired pretty quickly and made bad decisions with the puck that he normally doesn't make. He had some problems with his skating but it wasn't to the degree people here are making it out to be. It's way too early to start labelling certain attributes as a player's fatal flaw.

 

[-DeMo-]

FFS. So a dman busts at 20 years of age because he's struggling in his first season. Whatever happened to the saying dmen take longer to develop? Halfway through his rookie season and you are already calling a quits on his potential.

I stand by everything I said a year ago. He will need 2-3 years to develop and he will be ready for the NHL. He's a rookie right now. A struggling rookie but a ROOKIE

sorry but the word bust(in this context) was not used once in this thread prior to your post, no one has said he's a bust at this point, I also see no reason why people cant express there feelings on how Finn looks as a prospect, either bad or good. I don't understand why people get up in arms about people saying they don't believe Finn will be a good NHLer, probability says he wont, but that aside if I watch a player and my honest opinion is he more then likely wont make it for reason A, B, C why can I not state that without being jumped on? everyone has a right to there opinion and the great thing about sports is you can have two different opinions from 2 different people and they could both be right. saying we as fans need to have more patients with him means nothing, we don't make any of the moves the only ones that matter is what the Leafs brass feel about him.

 

[hotpaws]

Yes it is. The main problem I saw when I watched him at Copps a few weeks ago was his mind hadn't adapted to the pace of the game yet and they were giving him way too many minutes being paired up with Macwilliam. He got tired pretty quickly and made bad decisions with the puck that he normally doesn't make. He had some problems with his skating but it wasn't to the degree people here are making it out to be. It's way too early to start labelling certain attributes as a player's fatal flaw.

being a poor skater isn't a minor flaw regardless of how you try to spin it and is a major reason why many players can't make the jump to the NHL

i'm not writing the kid off but saying he's only 20 and in his first year doesn't mean he's guaranteed to improve .

 

[Stephen]

What I don't understand with this scouting staff is they pluck a kid like Matt Finn out of the second round and they start patting themselves on the back like "oh we had him at 15, great, awesome."

But the kid seems to have such a major weakness in his game that he can't even apprentice in the AHL and may actually be a much longer term project than a pick in the mid 30s. How did our Leafs scouts ever figure he was a first round talent? I'm not too happy with that kind of incompetence in this case.

 

[Mess]

What I don't understand with this scouting staff is they pluck a kid like Matt Finn out of the second round and they start patting themselves on the back like "oh we had him at 15, great, awesome."

But the kid seems to have such a major weakness in his game that he can't even apprentice in the AHL and may actually be a much longer term project than a pick in the mid 30s. How did our Leafs scouts ever figure he was a first round talent? I'm not too happy with that kind of incompetence in this case.

Its becoming a trend with Leafs scouting that Leafs higher picks Finn (2nd), Biggs (1st), Ross (2nd) etc needing ECHL development time.

When later rounders like Carrick, Broll, Rupert or Eric Knodel etc. end up in the ECHL its more understandable as they're long range projects from the moment they were drafted.

Higher picks (top 2 rounds) tend to have higher expectations attached.

 

[sniper81]

This says a lot about the leafs scouting deficiencies

Actually it doesn't. If you saw teams NHL teams lists, you would be shocked.

 

[diceman934]

What I don't understand with this scouting staff is they pluck a kid like Matt Finn out of the second round and they start patting themselves on the back like "oh we had him at 15, great, awesome."

But the kid seems to have such a major weakness in his game that he can't even apprentice in the AHL and may actually be a much longer term project than a pick in the mid 30s. How did our Leafs scouts ever figure he was a first round talent? I'm not too happy with that kind of incompetence in this case.

Exactly.....he was drafted to high as his skating is an issue! The fact the Leafs though he was a first rounder was a miscalculation as well as the many posters on here forecasting him to be a Leaf this year. He fell in the draft because other teams in the NHL figured his weakness which contrary to some on here is a big weakness....

I have not written him off based on his hockey IQ which is very high....he thinks the game well, now he needs to work on his skating and limitations to see if he can be effective at the AHL level.....before we can even discuss the NHL level.

 

[sniper81]

Exactly.....he was drafted to high as his skating is an issue! The fact the Leafs though he was a first rounder was a miscalculation as well as the many posters on here forecasting him to be a Leaf this year. He fell in the draft because other teams in the NHL figured his weakness which contrary to some on here is a big weakness....

I have not written him off based on his hockey IQ which is very high....he thinks the game well, now he needs to work on his skating and limitations to see if he can be effective at the AHL level.....before we can even discuss the NHL level.

Many people pegged him as needing 2 yeas AHL time. You literally aren't accomplishing anything here except for finally noticing his major flaw, his first 3 steps. Anyone who though he could be in the NHL this year strictly looked at his stats.

 

[Stephen]

Exactly.....he was drafted to high as his skating is an issue! The fact the Leafs though he was a first rounder was a miscalculation as well as the many posters on here forecasting him to be a Leaf this year. He fell in the draft because other teams in the NHL figured his weakness which contrary to some on here is a big weakness....

I have not written him off based on his hockey IQ which is very high....he thinks the game well, now he needs to work on his skating and limitations to see if he can be effective at the AHL level.....before we can even discuss the NHL level.

It's problematic when they snap up these prospects with falling stock without being critical of why they're falling, and then they go and miss out on a player like Jake McCabe a few slots later.

Hopefully they can fix Finn's skating with a lot of hard work.