Prospect Info: 2020 Leafs Board Prospect Rankings #4

[Schenn]

I will make a thread every day until we have determined the top 20 prospects according to Leaf fans on HFBoards for I think my 10th straight year. The criteria for a prospect will be loosely based on Calder eligibility. There may be a couple that slip through the cracks the first few posts because I am not perfect. Also please let me know if I have someone listed that is no longer with us, or any omissions. Comprehensive prospect lists are a little harder to find than you'd think this time of year.

Rankings:
1. Rasmus Sandin -- 48.4%
2. Nicholas Robertson -- 83.5%
3. Timothy Liljegren -- 53.8%
4.

______________
On The Docket:

Mac Hollowell
Rodion Amirov
Yegor Korshkov
Filip Hallander
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev
Nick Abruzzese
Joey Anderson
Mikko Kokkonen
Roni Hirvonen
Topi Niemela
Mikhail Abramov
Joe Woll

____________
Next on the List:

Filip Kral
Ian Scott
JD Greenway
Nikolai Chebykin
Vladimir Bobylev
Vladislav Kara
Ryan O'Connell
Adam Brooks
Pontus Holmberg
Semyon Kizimov
Joe Duszak
Justin Brazeau
Teemu Kivihalme
Michael Koster
Calle Loponen
Artur Akhtyamov
William Villeneuve
Dmitri Ovechkinov (I like this better)
Joe Miller
Wyatt Schingoethe
Ryan Tverberg
Axell Rindell
Veeti Miettinen
John Fusco

______________
Past Results:
Prospect Info: - 2019 Leafs Board Prospect Ranking #20
Prospect Info: - 2020 Leafs Board Prospect Rankings #1
Prospect Info: - 2020 Leafs Board Prospect Ranking #2
Prospect Info: - 2020 Leafs Board Prospect Rankings #3
Prospect Info: - 2020 Leafs Board Prospect Rankings #4


Suggest who I should add next, and who needs to be removed.

Click to read more...

 

[Canada4Gold]

Obviously Amirov

Add Pierre Engvall. Has less NHL games played than Joey Anderson.

Also Villenueve

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Rod Iron

 

[supermann_98]

Title need to be changed to #4

 

[Cor]

Title need to be changed to #4

@Schenn has had a couple thanksgiving drinks..... or maybe some green

 

[Schenn]

@Schenn has had a couple thanksgiving drinks..... or maybe some green

I wish I was boozin'

Title need to be changed to #4

Thanks dude.

@BertCorbeau Can you edit my title. I'm a moron.

 

[Cor]

I wish I was boozin'



Thanks dude.

@BertCorbeau Can you edit my title. I'm a moron.

I’ll drink to that!

 

[Merrrlin]

Zéro chance I would trade Amirov before Liljegren.

 

[IceColdBear]

Zéro chance I would trade Amirov before Liljegren.

Two prospects drafted in the same area (15th & 17th overall).

Liljegren has justified his draft positon since the draft with his play in the AHL.

Amirov has all the upside in the world, but is a lot less proven than Liljegren - I would take Liljegren over Amirov as of now every day of the week.

I don't know why people are down on Liljegren, 30 points in 40 games in the AHL last season as a 20 year old D, showing good poise - he is a legit prospect.

 

[aingefan]

Seems like this is the end of the top tier of the prospect pool, with honorable mention to Mikhail Abramov.
Gotta be Rhodey Amirov (War Machine?).

 

[IceColdBear]

Seems like this is the end of the top tier of the prospect pool, with honorable mention to Mikhail Abramov.
Gotta be Rhodey Amirov (War Machine?).

Yup, the top 4 are all the guys with high upside and a reasonably solid chance of reaching that potential.

The rest of the top 10 is players with either high upside and not a great chance of reaching it (Abramov, Abruzzese, Hirvonen, Niemela), or guys with limited upside but are fairly safe bets to make the NHL (Korshkov, Anderson, maybe could include Hallander here too).

After #4, the results will be interesting, with lots of guys getting votes.

 

[ChrisCall]

I wonder how much we might be sleeping on Korshkov.
He wasn't the guy everyone wanted when he was picked and I'm guessing most people still haven't seen him play much..
I caught him a few times with the Marlies. He looked pretty well, 'powerful'.
That's the best word I can think of to describe him. I'm pretty sure the Leafs badly need a player of his type.
And he's lighting up the KHL this season, granted he is something of a vet there now.

Amirov is a fine pick here, but I do really like what small amount of Korshkov I've seen, very much.
So I'm throwing him some love here.

 

[Schenn]

Obviously Amirov

Add Pierre Engvall. Has less NHL games played than Joey Anderson.

Also Villenueve

Is Engval still Calder eligible? If so I'll add him.

 

[Joey Hoser]

I don't know why people are down on Liljegren, 30 points in 40 games in the AHL last season as a 20 year old D, showing good poise - he is a legit prospect.

It's because his timeline is weird. Playing as a defenseman in the AHL at 18 makes him a bit of a unicorn. If he instead spent 2 seasons lighting up the CHL, and 1 as an AHL rookie, to get to the same place he is now, people would probably be a lot more excited about him.

 

[Rob Brown]

Probably time for the next one.

 

[Morgs]

Is Engval still Calder eligible? If so I'll add him.

I'd say you shouldn't. He's 24 (which is old for a prospect anyway), and a NHL regular at this point regardless of GP. Plus he's not calder eligible because he played more than 25 games in one season.

Neither is Joey Anderson (34 GP in a season, and two consecutive seasons more than 6 GP) to add to that point, but neither is Sandin (28 GP in a season) either. I'm fine with those two though because they're younger & not NHL regulars yet, but Anderson is definitely borderline on this list.

 

[Schenn]

I'd say you shouldn't. He's 24 (which is old for a prospect anyway), and a NHL regular at this point regardless of GP. Plus he's not calder eligible because he played more than 25 games in one season.

Neither is Joey Anderson (34 GP in a season, and two consecutive seasons more than 6 GP) to add to that point, but neither is Sandin (28 GP in a season) either. I'm fine with those two though because they're younger & not NHL regulars yet, but Anderson is definitely borderline on this list.

Alright this is how I'll do it. Thanks.

 

[Merrrlin]

Two prospects drafted in the same area (15th & 17th overall).

Liljegren has justified his draft positon since the draft with his play in the AHL.

Amirov has all the upside in the world, but is a lot less proven than Liljegren - I would take Liljegren over Amirov as of now every day of the week.

I don't know why people are down on Liljegren, 30 points in 40 games in the AHL last season as a 20 year old D, showing good poise - he is a legit prospect.

Liljegren has shown the same decision making flaws at every level of hockey, and at the NHL level, the players are good enough to make you pay for it.

i have some strong doubts about his ability to be more than an okay 2nd pairing guy, who spends much of his career on the 3rd pairing.

At this point, I see Amirov having a much higher ceiling but also a lower floor.

 

[Merrrlin]

It's because his timeline is weird. Playing as a defenseman in the AHL at 18 makes him a bit of a unicorn. If he instead spent 2 seasons lighting up the CHL, and 1 as an AHL rookie, to get to the same place he is now, people would probably be a lot more excited about him.

I would be more excited about him if he wasn’t showing the same flaws in his game that he had 4 years ago.

I am not cheering against the kid, sometimes something clicks for guys in their mid twenties, so here’s to hoping.

However, there is no way I would trade Amirov who I think has quite a bit of a brighter future and more years of control, before I seat Liljegren.

 

[Morgs]

Liljegren has shown the same decision making flaws at every level of hockey, and at the NHL level, the players are good enough to make you pay for it.

i have some strong doubts about his ability to be more than an okay 2nd pairing guy, who spends much of his career on the 3rd pairing.

At this point, I see Amirov having a much higher ceiling but also a lower floor.

Liljegren was a star in the AHL last season. Regardless of a few "bad" NHL games the guy is still on track to be at least a minimum top-4 defenseman. Based on the AHL level, it seems we just need patience:

Year 1: Showed flashes, but was in over his head.
Year 2: Looked good/really good, still had issues.
Year 3: One of the best defenseman in the entire AHL, let alone one playing his D+3 season. And yes, looked better than Sandin.

In the AHL his decision making has improved vastly, his defense has gone from bad to "borderline elite" in 3 years, his transition game has always been fantastic, and the points started coming the moment he was put into a bigger role and given actual PP time.

 

[Cor]

Liljegren has developed as a tremendous transition d-man, much in the style of Anton Stralman.

He had an up & down first 11 games, which is normal for young d-men as they first start to come up.

We have no idea what or if there will be an AHL season this year, but if one of Brodie/Holl/Bogosian go down, he’ll likely be the replacement, and I project will have a full time spot in 21-22.

People need to remember he just turned 21 in April. This was just his 20 year old season.

 

[Merrrlin]

I don’t know why people go on such a defensive over Liljegren.

We all know if takes time to develop as a defenceman. I am just not sold his IQ and decision making will ever catch up to the NHL level.

I am not saying he’s a bust or a throwaway, only saying that Amirov is the better prospect as of today in my eyes. I’ve seen a lot more of Liljegren, though, so that may be an unfair comparison until I get more acquainted with Amirov.

The comparison looks highly critical of Liljegren Only because I am comparing him to the best out there.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Is Engval still Calder eligible? If so I'll add him.

No he's not. Please don't add Engvall. It was more me trying to make a point why Anderson shouldn't be on the poll either since he's played 52 NHL games. Neither are Calder eligible. Neither is Sandin but he's only 4 games over the limit which if we're being discretionary I can see letting slide, once you're double the Calder threshold like Joey Anderson is, that's not a prospect anymore.