Which prospects are you most excited about?

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Pretty hard to get excited for all these low end lovable wanna be Leafs losers.

These guys are all fart, no shit.

Just look at all the fantastic prospects the Leafs have. All of them gems too. It's unbelievable the amount of riches.

Robertson, Voit, Niemela, Cowan.

Joe Miller.

Guys like these just aren't found on other teams. Draft and develop is what the Leafs are all about. It's clearly management's biggest strength.

How anyone can't be excited over Joe Miller is beyond me.

Ideally a team wants to be able to call up prospects each year. To fortify the roster. In place of having to trade for expensive rentals.

That hasn't happened here.

What has happened is they keep drafting the same type player without success. Boom or bust types that can't break through. I'm not sure how much I agree with that philosophy, especially given the injury history of the team's best prospects.

So far it's been all bust, no boom.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Is Knies still considered a prospect since he's already made the team?

He's played 3 games he's still a prospect

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Knies and Woll because they are the ones that will contribute to the team, the rest are trade pieces

 

[Stephen]

I think it's Easton Cowan. How can you not cheer for a kid named after a hockey stick flying around like him? Hope he tears up the OHL and validates the Toronto selection.

 

[Frostitute]

I think it's Easton Cowan. How can you not cheer for a kid named after a hockey stick flying around like him? Hope he tears up the OHL and validates the Toronto selection.

I'll be cheering for him live October 10th vs the Greyhounds. I'll be sure to write up a little report on how the kid plays.

 

[francis246]

Pretty hard to get excited for all these low end lovable wanna be Leafs losers.

These guys are all fart, no shit.

Just look at all the fantastic prospects the Leafs have. All of them gems too. It's unbelievable the amount of riches.

Robertson, Voit, Niemela, Cowan.

Joe Miller.

Guys like these just aren't found on other teams. Draft and develop is what the Leafs are all about. It's clearly management's biggest strength.

How anyone can't be excited over Joe Miller is beyond me.

Ideally a team wants to be able to call up prospects each year. To fortify the roster. In place of having to trade for expensive rentals.

That hasn't happened here.

What has happened is they keep drafting the same type player without success. Boom or bust types that can't break through. I'm not sure how much I agree with that philosophy, especially given the injury history of the team's best prospects.

So far it's been all bust, no boom.

You are the most miserable poster ever. Every thread you can’t help yourself, you just have to bring a negative point of view.

Back to prospects, it would be great for guys like McMann, Steeves, Robertson, Villanueve, Niemela to push for spots

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

You are the most miserable poster ever. Every thread you can’t help yourself, you just have to bring a negative point of view.

Back to prospects, it would be great for guys like McMann, Steeves, Robertson, Villanueve, Niemela to push for spots

Posters like him don't know a thing about our prospects either. Guy picked a 6th rounder to try and make a point. Miller was near ppg in his first year in the NCAA. Not even a good example of a bad prospect. Is he likely to make it? No, he's a 6th rounder but if he hits, you have a Tyler Johnson on your hands.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

You are the most miserable poster ever. Every thread you can’t help yourself, you just have to bring a negative point of view.

Back to prospects, it would be great for guys like McMann, Steeves, Robertson, Villanueve, Niemela to push for spots

Just put me on ignore if you don't like my comments.

Posters like him don't know a thing about our prospects either. Guy picked a 6th rounder to try and make a point. Miller was near ppg in his first year in the NCAA. Not even a good example of a bad prospect. Is he likely to make it? No, he's a 6th rounder but if he hits, you have a Tyler Johnson on your hands.

I singled out Miller because of his size.

I don't agree with the Leafs drafting philosophy. These guys are fighting mother nature picking all these skilled little guys and hoping they grow into their talents. Personally I think it's better to draft a big guy with a deficiency in his game you can teach, rather than draft a little guy and hope he grows into the right size.

You can't teach size.

 

[NMacrules]

Just put me on ignore if you don't like my comments.



I singled out Miller because of his size.

I don't agree with the Leafs drafting philosophy. These guys are fighting mother nature picking all these skilled little guys and hoping they grow into their talents. Personally I think it's better to draft a big guy with a deficiency in his game you can teach, rather than draft a little guy and hope he grows into the right size.

You can't teach size.

Wow, you don't have a clue about this game, drafting or prospects. So you want a big guy with deficiency? Tyler Biggs perhaps? How about Korshkov. How about Freddy Gauthier? He was huge with lots of deficiency's. Stuart Percy wasn't a giant but wasn't small either. 6 feet and 190. Deficiency plus. You clearly don't have any idea what you are talking about. Google is your friend. You don't know hockey so stop trying to sound like you do. You are embarrassing yourself. Get a clue bud.

 

[francis246]

Posters like him don't know a thing about our prospects either. Guy picked a 6th rounder to try and make a point. Miller was near ppg in his first year in the NCAA. Not even a good example of a bad prospect. Is he likely to make it? No, he's a 6th rounder but if he hits, you have a Tyler Johnson on your hands.

I think the leafs have done way better in recent years compared to before. Does the strategy maybe need a bit of tweaking for sure. I think instead of size we should be looking for the compete level/skill combination. Are the guys we are identifying highly motivated, team guy first players. Do they block shots, forecheck, play defense. If we start incorporating more of that I think we’ll be fine.

I think they’ve drafted some guys who can be serviceable in the NHL but we need to play them and stop signing so many aging UFA’s. I think we will see guys like Robertson, Minten, Hirovainen, Niemela, Holmberg on the roster in 2025 as the leafs reset. Then hopefully guys like Ty Voit, Nick Moldenhour and Ryan Tvergberg, Nick Abruzzese step up their pro game and become serviceable.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Wow, you don't have a clue about this game, drafting or prospects. So you want a big guy with deficiency? Tyler Biggs perhaps? How about Korshkov. How about Freddy Gauthier? He was huge with lots of deficiency's. Stuart Percy wasn't a giant but wasn't small either. 6 feet and 190. Deficiency plus. You clearly don't have any idea what you are talking about. Google is your friend. You don't know hockey so stop trying to sound like you do. You are embarrassing yourself. Get a clue bud.

So what you're saying is Hirvonen, Niemela, Akhtyamov, Villeneuve, Ovchinnikov, Miettinen, Rindell, Miller, Fusco, Schingoethe and Tverberg are all much better picks that worked out great?

All those picks and not one of them is gonna make the NHL. That was just the 2020 draft alone. Even the goalie they drafted was undersized.

Drafting a goalie less than 6'02 and (well) under 200lbs is a sure sign the strategy is flawed if you ask me.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Just put me on ignore if you don't like my comments.



I singled out Miller because of his size.

I don't agree with the Leafs drafting philosophy. These guys are fighting mother nature picking all these skilled little guys and hoping they grow into their talents. Personally I think it's better to draft a big guy with a deficiency in his game you can teach, rather than draft a little guy and hope he grows into the right size.

You can't teach size.

Just put me on ignore if you don't like my comments.



I singled out Miller because of his size.

I don't agree with the Leafs drafting philosophy. These guys are fighting mother nature picking all these skilled little guys and hoping they grow into their talents. Personally I think it's better to draft a big guy with a deficiency in his game you can teach, rather than draft a little guy and hope he grows into the right size.

You can't teach size.

We went through years of drafting big players with deficiencies under Burke, Nonis and Lou. Where are those prospects? Ohh yeah, a good majority of them didn't even become good AHL players.

Kids nowadays are making the NHL sooner because of their skill. If you get a big guy with deficiencies, that aren't producing at lower levels, how do you expect them to catch up with the already skilled players, who are also developing?

If you churn out one NHLer from each draft, that is pretty much considered a success. If you keep betting on skill, you are increasing those odds and we've seen a ton of success at lower levels with this approach already and we've already seen several of them make NHL debuts, which is already miles ahead of the previous drafting under Burke, Nonis and Lou.

Also some of these kids getting drafted at 17/18 aren't done growing. We've seen several of our prospects grow a few inches. Kral went from 5'11 to 6'2, Kokkonen went from 5'10 to 6'0, Abruzzese went from 5'9 to 5'11, Holmberg went from 5'10 to 6'0, Tverberg went from 5'11 to 6'0, Abramov went from 5'10 to 5'11.

I would rather bet on skilled players with high IQ getting bigger than a big player, figuring out how to play hockey and catch up to every one else.

 

[notbias]

I singled out Miller because of his size.

I don't agree with the Leafs drafting philosophy. These guys are fighting mother nature picking all these skilled little guys and hoping they grow into their talents. Personally I think it's better to draft a big guy with a deficiency in his game you can teach, rather than draft a little guy and hope he grows into the right size.

You can't teach size.

The Hunter strategy, glad we fired that idiot.

Good philosophy though, produced a lot of NHLers.

 

[notbias]

So what you're saying is Hirvonen, Niemela, Akhtyamov, Villeneuve, Ovchinnikov, Miettinen, Rindell, Miller, Fusco, Schingoethe and Tverberg are all much better picks that worked out great?

All those picks and not one of them is gonna make the NHL. That was just the 2020 draft alone. Even the goalie they drafted was undersized.

Drafting a goalie less than 6'02 and (well) under 200lbs is a sure sign the strategy is flawed if you ask me.

You picked a handful of players that will never make the NHL according to you, and I bet at least 3 of them do.

Shows your knowledge of our prospect pool.

 

[Gary Nylund]

If Woll's still in the prospect category, then he's my choice. When he plays, I'll have one eye on him and one eye on the rest of the team for sure.

Goaltending is everything in the playoffs and playoffs is where we've been crapping out. There seems to be a non-zero chance that Woll could be our saviour and have a greater impact on the team in the playoffs then any other player, including our highly paid star players. That makes him the center of attention for me, no two ways about it.

Go Woll Go!!

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I think the leafs have done way better in recent years compared to before. Does the strategy maybe need a bit of tweaking for sure. I think instead of size we should be looking for the compete level/skill combination. Are the guys we are identifying highly motivated, team guy first players. Do they block shots, forecheck, play defense. If we start incorporating more of that I think we’ll be fine.

I think they’ve drafted some guys who can be serviceable in the NHL but we need to play them and stop signing so many aging UFA’s. I think we will see guys like Robertson, Minten, Hirovainen, Niemela, Holmberg on the roster in 2025 as the leafs reset. Then hopefully guys like Ty Voit, Nick Moldenhour and Ryan Tvergberg, Nick Abruzzese step up their pro game and become serviceable.

We have some players that play with a high motor and tenacity like Robertson, Tverberg, Hirvonen and Cowan. Add that to some of the guys with size and physicality in Knies, Grebenkin and Minten and we could see a higher level of compete in a few years if all these guys hit. I would rather have smaller guys who go balls to the wall, than bigger players who play soft. Tampa had a forward lineup that had several smaller players that played with heart.

This lineup is assuming Bertuzzi ends up signing long term like it's been reported and if these prospects hit.

Bertuzzi Matthews Marner
Knies Tavares Nylander
Cowan Minten Grebenkin
Hirvonen/Holmberg Kampf Tverberg

That looks like a lineup with a decent blend of size, skill and tenacity

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

We went through years of drafting big players with deficiencies under Burke, Nonis and Lou. Where are those prospects? Ohh yeah, a good majority of them didn't even become good AHL players.

Kids nowadays are making the NHL sooner because of their skill. If you get a big guy with deficiencies, that aren't producing at lower levels, how do you expect them to catch up with the already skilled players, who are also developing?

If you churn out one NHLer from each draft, that is pretty much considered a success. If you keep betting on skill, you are increasing those odds and we've seen a ton of success at lower levels with this approach already and we've already seen several of them make NHL debuts, which is already miles ahead of the previous drafting under Burke, Nonis and Lou.

Also some of these kids getting drafted at 17/18 aren't done growing. We've seen several of our prospects grow a few inches. Kral went from 5'11 to 6'2, Kokkonen went from 5'10 to 6'0, Abruzzese went from 5'9 to 5'11, Holmberg went from 5'10 to 6'0, Tverberg went from 5'11 to 6'0, Abramov went from 5'10 to 5'11.

I would rather bet on skilled players with high IQ getting bigger than a big player, figuring out how to play hockey and catch up to every one else.

I guess we fundamentally disagree on what we think is a better drafting strategy.

Hunter for years chased after the next Chara/Pronger and ended up with all those big nobodies. Dubas went the complete opposite and ended up with all those little nobodies. Here's a thought: maybe a blended strategy would be the right choice?

Because let's not forget that for all those guys Dubas drafted the best one ended up being Knies.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

If Woll's still in the prospect category, then he's my choice. When he plays, I'll have one eye on him and one eye on the rest of the team for sure.

Goaltending is everything in the playoffs and playoffs is where we've been crapping out. There seems to be a non-zero chance that Woll could be our saviour and have a greater impact on the team in the playoffs then any other player, including our highly paid star players. That makes him the center of attention for me, no two ways about it.

Go Woll Go!!

Woll is the one I'm most interested in too.

I really want to see what this kid has in him. Because, God damn, if he isn't any good they could be in a whole heap of hell. This chart helps me sleep better at night though.

If Woll plays like that all season he wins the Calder, Vezina, Jennings, Hart, Lester B Pearson, and Conn Smythe.

Probably the Lady Byng too, just to make it a clean sweep.

Go Woll Go

 

[horner]

It’s being released tomorrow (Tuesday).

Can those games be watched later on YouTube

I am really looking forward to see what Cowen can do .

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I guess we fundamentally disagree on what we think is a better drafting strategy.

Hunter for years chased after the next Chara/Pronger and ended up with all those big nobodies. Dubas went the complete opposite and ended up with all those little nobodies. Here's a thought: maybe a blended strategy would be the right choice?

Because let's not forget that for all those guys Dubas drafted the best one ended up being Knies.

I agree that our pool needs more diversity in size and player types but not at the expense of wasting picks on players lacking the skills needed to make the NHL.

You realize that most of Dubas' picks are still very young right? A lot of them are playing their first year in the AHL this year. His first 2 drafts has already seen 8 players play NHL games. 2 are full time NHLers in Sandin and Durzi, 3 are battling for spots on the Leafs this year in Holmberg, Robertson and Abruzzese. That is already successful drafting. Then you include Knies as well who was drafted more recently. Next year we likely see Hirvonen, Niemela and possibly Tverberg, Villeneuve and Minten competing for Leafs spots if they have good years.

As for Knies being our best prospect, yes. He was also an extremely fortunate pick. You don't normally see a player who is 6'3 and has all the skills that he does end up in the late 2nd round. That's why we saw our scouts tell Dubas in the Leafs blueprint video to not trade down and select him because he was too good to pass on. He should've been a first rounder. If we could draft a Knies in the late 2nd every year, don't you think we would do it? Look at all of our recent drafts and find guys that went around our picks that are similar to him. You won't find many, if any

 

[mclaren55]

Pretty hard to get excited for all these low end lovable wanna be Leafs losers.

These guys are all fart, no shit.

Just look at all the fantastic prospects the Leafs have. All of them gems too. It's unbelievable the amount of riches.

Robertson, Voit, Niemela, Cowan.

Joe Miller.

Guys like these just aren't found on other teams. Draft and develop is what the Leafs are all about. It's clearly management's biggest strength.

How anyone can't be excited over Joe Miller is beyond me.

Ideally a team wants to be able to call up prospects each year. To fortify the roster. In place of having to trade for expensive rentals.

That hasn't happened here.

What has happened is they keep drafting the same type player without success. Boom or bust types that can't break through. I'm not sure how much I agree with that philosophy, especially given the injury history of the team's best prospects.

So far it's been all bust, no boom.

Yea, all of our prospects have sucked. Like Nylander, Matthews, and Marner. Do you even remember the pre-2016 Leafs? Get a grip. Why cheer for this team?

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Pretty hard to get excited for all these low end lovable wanna be Leafs losers.

These guys are all fart, no shit.

Just look at all the fantastic prospects the Leafs have. All of them gems too. It's unbelievable the amount of riches.

Robertson, Voit, Niemela, Cowan.

Joe Miller.

Guys like these just aren't found on other teams. Draft and develop is what the Leafs are all about. It's clearly management's biggest strength.

How anyone can't be excited over Joe Miller is beyond me.

Ideally a team wants to be able to call up prospects each year. To fortify the roster. In place of having to trade for expensive rentals.

That hasn't happened here.

What has happened is they keep drafting the same type player without success. Boom or bust types that can't break through. I'm not sure how much I agree with that philosophy, especially given the injury history of the team's best prospects.

So far it's been all bust, no boom.

Of course they're found on other teams!

What do you think?

Do you actually believe that other teams are comprised of NHLers playing in Junior, the NHL, and the AHL? You've got to be kidding me.

I think you don't at all factor things like Nylander, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly have occupied important positions for a long time. Add Tavares to that and you don't often see a prospect unless they can be a shut down/checker.

 

[francis246]

You picked a handful of players that will never make the NHL according to you, and I bet at least 3 of them do.

Shows your knowledge of our prospect pool.

the reality is a good portion of them might become NHL'ers but maybe not for the leafs. I think eventually the leafs are going to realize UFA isn't always the solution to our depth problems, some of these guys in the AHL should be occupying those spots. Lets get em playing on the cheap.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

the reality is a good portion of them might become NHL'ers but maybe not for the leafs. I think eventually the leafs are going to realize UFA isn't always the solution to our depth problems, some of these guys in the AHL should be occupying those spots. Lets get em playing on the cheap.

Who in the AHL should be occupying a spot over Tyler Bertuzzi? or Max Domi? Or John Klingberg? If a prospect is good enough they will take those spots like Matthew Knies did or Joseph Woll did.

They are in the AHL because that's where they should be because they aren't good enough to take those spots.

Maybe someday Roni Hirvonen will be better than Max Domi but he's not today.

Maybe someday Easton Cowan will skip the AHL entirely and be better than Tyler Bertuzzi but he's not today.

Maybe someday Topi Nemila will be better than John Klingberg but he's not today.

I hope all of these things happen, but to say that their are players in the AHL today that should be occupying spots on the Leafs simply isn't true, the ones that should be are and those are Knies and Woll.

And if it is true and there is somebody down there that should be occupying a spot then they will because they will take that spot.

I do feel like Lafferty spot might be up for grabs so MAYBE a guy like Holmberg can take it but he's going to have to TAKE it, not just from Lafferty but from Gambrell and Noah Gregor too.

 

[Frostitute]

If Woll's still in the prospect category, then he's my choice. When he plays, I'll have one eye on him and one eye on the rest of the team for sure.

Goaltending is everything in the playoffs and playoffs is where we've been crapping out. There seems to be a non-zero chance that Woll could be our saviour and have a greater impact on the team in the playoffs then any other player, including our highly paid star players. That makes him the center of attention for me, no two ways about it.

Go Woll Go!!