I said it before, I think it came from expectations. And a lot came from the Konecny thread because that pick was the Leafs pick before they dropped down a few times. Here were some of the quotes:
"Bracco is already showing, and has always shown he is on the level of Konecny."
"International play or junior play, where has Konecny shown to be above?"
"Bracco has 14 points in 12 games and is a lock for Team USA at the WJC's"
Sadly, these were all in the Konecny thread...and the mods cleaned up many, many more posts due to derailment. It was back in November fwiw.
But as for Bracco, no one should be upset with the year he just had as a 2nd round pick. And next year will be better too.