Karsa Orlong
Knight of chains
To be fair most of our upcoming defensemen are skyscrapers. Having one small, high offense guy with potential, is not a bad thing to spend your 5th rounder on.
Since 1999-2000, only two defensemen have ever led the BCHL in scoring from the blueline during their first year of draft eligibility. One of them is Norris candidate Duncan Keith, who posted 82 points in 60 games way back in 2000-01, when the league was considered more a joke rather than a legitimate source of NHL talent.
The other? 5'9, 170 lbs Joey Laleggia. That itself puts the undersized defender into elite company, and despite his size, the diminutive puck mover is a truly stunning talent.
Well-regarded since the age of sixteen when he committed to the University of New Hampshire while still in Midget, Laleggia has nevertheless been underrated every step of the way- even after a remarkable rookie year in Canada's top Junior A league that saw him net 65 points in just 54 games, good enough for 22nd in league scoring. Much to the surprise of almost everyone, Laleggia was nominated for neither Defenseman of the Year- which he lost to three players that finished with seven, fourteen and twenty-three fewer points respectively- nor Rookie of the Year. One would assume, then, that Laleggia is merely a fourth forward and a giant defensive liability, but like Detroit mini-phenom Adam Almqvist, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Laleggia is a truly sublime skater, and is more than willing to use that plus every inch to not only set up but disrupt plays. It's not a coincidence that he was the team's top defender in every situation in a year that the Vees finished with the second-least goals against in the entire BCHL.
Laleggia is a major-league project, but like a notable quote about Almqvist from last year goes, he's smart enough to spring players for a break-away from his own zone. The team that gambles on him may not get a Duncan Keith, but he's not 18 until the day before the Draft and could easily end up alongside other great defensive mites like Brian Rafalski and Lubomir Visnovsky.
Upside- Top-two defender, PP specialist, 15-30-45
With a brain? I'd take that.
I really like this pick.
Yes, but not nearly the shot.
Within the next 24 months, LaLeggia breaks camp with the Oilers. He became the most offensively talented D prospect in the system at 10 AM. You want a guy who can head-man pucks up to Nugent-Hopkins et al? Here he is.
At 20, he's ahead of the pack in terms of development and could (but probably shouldn't) play in the AHL this year. Instead, he'll be a 40+ point player next season as the puck-mover for Beau Bennett, Dakota Mermis and Nick and Quentin Shore. J. Schultz- who everybody loves- had 44 points in 37 games this year. I'm confident LaLeggia can match that.
At 20 I don't think he's growing anymore. Interesting to see what type of player he develops into.
I think he could easily grow another inch or two, small guys aren't as done growing at 20 as the big guys who have their growth spurts at 16 are. And he can certainly add a lot of muscle just like anyone else could.
I like the very-talented-but-too-small guys as late round home run swings.
You could be right. There was a HF thread on him where the thread starter claimed that Joey's dad was 6'1, so it's possible.
A good thing about him going the NCAA route is he'll have the chance to really bulk up. He'll need to be strong on his skates if he wants a chance to make it in this league with his size.
With the NCAA not having as many games as say the WHL, he'll have a chance to really hit the gym strengthen his core.
I maybe nitpicking here but elite prospects has Joey listed as 178cm which is closer to 6ft than 5'9". I know not a huge difference but...
Always found elite prospects a little more up to date than some other databases.
I dunno, maybe the 5'9" was when he was first draft eligible and he has grown a little since.
5'10" is still undersized for a defenceman and the few reports of LaLeggia from this season seem to think that listing is a stretch and that he's shorter.
Any chance you could post links to those reports?
I was sort of thinking out loud when I noticed the discrepancy and 178 cm > 5'11".
Thanks
I'm not sure if you're disagreeing with me but 178 cm is approximately 70 inches which is 5'10". 0.3937 is the common conversion factor for cm to in.
http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1328
Corey Pronman mentions his height here.
The others were on college hockey message boards I was looking at when researching LaLeggia and McCarron.