GDT: Training Camp Discussion PART III

[Anthrax442]

He should be in opening night.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Why the Maple Leafs waived Adam Brooks and kept Michael Amadio - The Athletic

First, at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, Amadio has a clear margin over the 6-foot, 179-pound Brooks in the size department.

But most importantly, he’s got 155 more games of NHL experience than Brooks, a fact that Keefe highlighted on Monday. Given that Amadio could be bouncing in and out of the lineup to start, the Leafs will want to minimize any adjustment time for Amadio. There’s likely the hope that his four seasons with the Los Angeles Kings should ease any adjustment period.

Keefe noted Amadio’s skill set — size and his versatility to play both centre, wing and even some special teams as well.

“In each situation that we gave him throughout this preseason, he did a really good job for us,” said Keefe.

Talking to people in and around the Kings organization, there’s the sense that he does have more sneaky skill to offer within games than Brooks. People who watched him closely in Los Angeles note his intelligence, his poise with the puck and how well he can make plays in tight spaces. And he probably fares a little better with those attributes compared to Brooks, if only by a small margin.

He can complement skilled players, which makes him a fit for a fourth-line centre role that should see Spezza moved to the wing.

In 68 games for a disappointing Kings team in 2019-20, Amadio finished with six goals and 10 assists and fourth among the Kings regular forwards in five-on-five xGF with 55.94 percent.

Yet what held him back at times with the Kings was a lack of consistency in his play, to the point that some within the organization grew frustrated at the discrepancy between the highs and lows in his game.

With the Kings talented crop of young prospects emerging, Amadio was deemed expendable and was flipped to the Ottawa Senators in a March trade for defenceman Christian Wolanin.

 

[ACC1224]

Lock er up, camps over.