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Ranking Prospects 2022-2023

Bender said:
herman said:
https://twitter.com/joshuakloke/status/1549019265117863937
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Whatever happened to Ian Scott? Wonder if he ever takes a meaningful step in his development.
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Injuries led to hip surgery in late 2019, so he missed the whole 2019-2020 season. Coming back from that, he got injured some more. He has played 7 total games from then to now. As of March 2022, he was out long term with an undisclosed injury and estimated to return to playing in September.

Leafs did not qualify him, so he will likely sign when he decides how he wants to proceed (retire? stick with the Marlies/Growlers and take advantage of the healthcare/trainers?).
 
In any case, you can see the blend in player types over the past little while in the type of swings at forward the Leafs are taking down-draft:

skilly little guys: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Mikhail Abramov, Nick Abbruzzese, Dmitriy Ovchinnikov, Veeti Miettinen, Joe Miller, Alex Steeves, Max Ellis

hybrid: Nick Robertson, Roni Hirvonen, Ty Voit, Braeden Kressler, Nick Moldenhauer

get puck, keep puck, hit stuff, repeat: Joey Anderson, Matt Knies, Ryan Tverberg, Bobby McMann, Fraser Minten
 
https://theathletic.com/3433399/2022/07/19/leafs-development-camp-notebook-knies/

Hayley Wickenheiser, the team?s assistant general manager for player development, said the focus of the first two days of development camp was teaching players to improve their possession play and their pace with the puck. No player embodied those teachings more overtly than 2021 second-round pick Matthew Knies.
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reposting this little puppy; like if John Tavares was bigger and a little faster
https://twitter.com/joshuakloke/status/1548717565756821504

Knies is working on his shot in tight, to maximize his gifts (puck protection, handling) after he gets into the danger zone. Just sit him down with a lot of JT and JvR video of cleaning up garbage pucks into the top shelf or between the pads and make that second nature.
 
https://twitter.com/ieafsupdates/status/1550182368455151617
:?(

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgSJx7mJ49R/
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Unfortunate, but unsurprising.
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Tough hand.  I feel bad for the kid...I'm sure it's disappointing working your whole teens toward a goal, get drafted, then it all falls apart on you.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Unfortunate, but unsurprising.
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Definitely sad, being still so young. At the same time better to make the move now than struggle longer and not really get any further along. I do feel for him.
 
There?s a stream for today?s scrimmage but I?m region locked for some reason, so just going by the clips on Twitter, it looks like the Leaf prospects have been working on developing rush plays. Lots of nice between-checks area passes for linemates to take advantage of. Soccer/football plays

https://twitter.com/tictactomar/status/1550519445860360192
https://twitter.com/tictactomar/status/1550500981800112131
https://twitter.com/tictactomar/status/1550516933791186950
https://twitter.com/tictactomar/status/1550507483604701185
Tverberg with the slip pass here
https://twitter.com/tictactomar/status/1550500663548846082
 
https://twitter.com/tictactomar/status/1550522646114480129
This was the invitee that caught my eye on paper
 
TLN has kicked off their summer material in earnest with their Top 20 prospects of Calder eligible baby buds.

20. Max Ellis
Undrafted quick winger with good hands, but smol. He is a long shot to make the big club, but there are clearly some tools there to refine. Despite the speed and size comparisons, this is not a Trevor Moore-level prospect yet; Moore was thicc and sturdy and has a faster top gear, while Ellis has better hands. Both have limited offensive creativity so success in the NHL will come down to providing reliable bottom-6 energy and chipping in the odd opportunistic goal off a messy cycle.
 
TLN:
19. William Villeneuve

Apparently his defense stood out among the dev camp players, which pushes him into the potential vaunted status of two-way defenseman with size (drafted in the 2020 4th). Sounds like they're going to put him through the same path Liljegren (and Holl) went through with the Marlies: a steady, increasing diet of defensive deployment*.

?I think the next transition for him, when he comes up with the Marlies next season will be defending and really being able to solidify that part of his game.? Wickenheiser said during the final day of Maple Leafs development camp. ?We know that he?s got offensive upside, he can move the puck. Sometimes the simple play is the best play and I think when you?re at the pro level, you have to understand those moments ? when to complicate it, when to keep it simple.?
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He's still a long shot, but you can see the outline sketch of a top-4 RD; it will take time to fill out and refine.


* and maybe some Panic Hockey, as the Marlies are still a Greg Moore team at this time

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https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1551341469042184192
what stood out about Villeneuve was how far his game had come in the last year. In both scrimmages, Toronto?s fourth-round pick (122nd overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft showed patience in his breakout ability. He was composed with the puck and clean on his zone exits.

When mistakes happened, Villeneuve appeared undeterred and recovered quickly.

?We worked a lot with him on his posture and really his mental side of the game, in terms of not getting down on himself and staying consistent,? Maple Leafs assistant GM Hayley Wickenheiser said of the 20-year-old.
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TLN:
18. Veeti Miettinen

Similar template of player to Dmitry Ovchinnikov, Roni Hirvonen, and to basically the archetype in the Leafs system, Nick Robertson: small, got some puck skills, and scoring pop from the danger zone. Veeti is dangerous with the puck; he'll need to work on becoming more of a factor without the puck and not relying solely on teammates to feed him the puck.
 
Article on Hildeby by David Alter:

https://www.si.com/nhl/maple-leafs/prospects/dennis-hildeby-among-goalie-prospects-the-maple-leafs-hope-will-blossom
 
Nik said:
So I guess their top prospect would be Knies or one of the Finns? Woof.
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If we're counting only the non NHL youngsters, it'll be a smear of:
Robertson, Knies, Amirov*, Niemela, Minten (higher floor) or Voit/Hirvonen (higher offensive ceiling) in whatever order.
 
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