13-14 Prospects Thread Version XX: Connor Brown - 55GP 110P

[gabeliscious]

Of course Brown is high end skill. The question about him is not skill, but size, strength and, to a lesser degree, speed.

highend skill in relation to the rest of our prospects. i wouldnt call him high end skill compared to other teams. just about every team in the nhl has a prospect as good or better then brown. we basically have leivo and then brown as prospects who could possibly become top 6 players and it is not a forgone conclusion.

Wow i disagree. Burke's emphasis on drafting pluggers and sandpaper has left our system hamstrung for real skill and talent. For Burke's few faults, one of them was most certainly drafting. He wasn't terrible at it, and it's still kind of early to really tell, but a lot of his picks aren't looking amazing compared to about 15-20 other teams.

i agree. burke put a priority on blue collar type players when he drafted with the exception of rielly and kadri. for a team so void of highend talent, he spent most of his picks on truculence rather then skill. i think the most glaring is moving up to draft biggs. if i was the leafs gm, after the first round i would try and look for prospects with big time boom/bust potential. at some point you would get lucky i would think? if you draft a guy who only projects to be a 3rd liner what do you expect. id rather take my chances on a guy who might not pan out but if he does he is a star.

I think Granberg is a lock to be in the NHL next year.

Phaneuf - Gunner
Gleason - Rielly
Gardiner - Granberg
Ranger/Brennan

Percy / MacWilliam
Finn / Nilsson
Yeo / Holzer
Knodel / Loov

How I hope it turns out anyway. If Granberg doesn't make it, then you can either let Yeo go, or trade Holzer.

i think/ hope nonis will try and bring in another top 4 defenseman between now and training camp. if he manages to bring in a girardi as an example i dont think he would bring up a rookie to not play. better off to resign someone like ranger. if nonis cant bring in another defenseman then i agree one of percy/macwilliam/grandberg should be able to make the team as a #6.

i think gardiner-percy would work well. not sure if percy is ready yet.

 

[HockeyNightInBelfast]

Connor Brown, Andreas Johnson, Josh Leivo, Fredrik Gauthier.

Our strength isn't top 6 talent, nor does it need to be. Nazem Kadri (23), Tyler Bozak (27), Phil Kessel (26), James van Reimsdyk (24) Are all very young and will be here for a long time. Joffery Lupul is only 30, and David Clarkson is only 29, and are still young in their own right.

The parts of our forward lineup that will be interchangeable (our third and 4th lines) is our strength in forward prospects.

Jerry D'Amigo, Carter Ashton, Sam Carrick, Ryan Rupert, Greg McKegg, Brad Ross, Tyler Biggs, David Broll, Jaime Devane, Teemu Hartikainen, Carter Verhaeghe are all prospects that will undoubtedly, or very likely will be able to play 3rd or 4th line minutes in the NHL.

We have seen the start of it, with Ashton replacing McLaren. Next Season, D'Amigo will likely replace Mason Raymond. Broll/Devane/Hartikainen will replace Colton Orr once his contract is up. Sam Carrick is an easy replacement for McClement in the near future, and by the looks of him this year, could easily replace him next season.

You look at our weakest position in our organization, and it is our strongest position in our system. That is defense.

Stuart Percy, Matt Finn, Petter Granberg, Andrew MacWilliam, and Tom Nilsson are all guys that will be at least bottom pairing d-man, and 4 of the 5 in my mind will be second pairing guys. Percy and Finn I think could eventually play as a #2 guy, like a Carl Gunnersson does.

I think Granberg is a lock to be in the NHL next year.

Phaneuf - Gunner
Gleason - Rielly
Gardiner - Granberg
Ranger/Brennan

Percy / MacWilliam
Finn / Nilsson
Yeo / Holzer
Knodel / Loov

How I hope it turns out anyway. If Granberg doesn't make it, then you can either let Yeo go, or trade Holzer.

Best +/- on the team as a rookie D-man on a team w/ 3 rookie defence man with one of the best GAA in the AHL. Hmmm…wonder how much of that is down to Drew MacIntyre, but still, impressive stats for our D-corps & Grannberg in particular. Be good for him to have Gunnarsson around too, then Nilsson & Loov to follow….SWEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTT!

 

[Bluelines]

Gauthier based on his play this year, and the underwhelming nature of his offence at all levels of play. QMJHL or Worlds, Subway series and his just average defence for all his fanfare, is looking like a real questionable pick. For all of Burke's faults, drafting has been one of his solid attributes.

Gauthier may be a trade chip one day, this is where his value to our team. I am totally underwhelmed by him. As for the other guys we picked in the same draft, love them, great value. Just wish we did better at #21, obcourse as a 18 year old this may change next year, if it doesn't I would be worried we drafted someone that is hopefully as good as Jamie Mcclement in the first rd.

Gauthier was always projected to be a 3rd line shutdown Center, when he was drafted every interview, that I watched, with a Leaf executive said that their expectations was Gauthier would become a very good 3rd line center.

Judging him on goals and assist is not fair considering what kind of player he is and what player he is expected to be. He is coming exactly as advertised.

 

[67Cup]

Having "high end skill" and "prospect as good as other teams" are overlapping but not by any means identical categories. Linus Omark had high end skill as a prospect but he was not a high end prospect overall or "a prospect as good as some other teams.". This is was not because of his skill level, but because of his size and strength.

In terms of skills such as ice vision, passing, quick release of shot, accuracy, ie the kind of things that add up to high end skill, yes, Brown is very good indeed. Evidence? Look at the scoring statistics! There are reasons why he is leading the OHL by a large margin.

That still doesn't make him a high end prospect, in my view. He is still not very big and doesn't look physically strong yet. Size does matter. A 6'3", 210 pounder who skates well is still likely to be considered a better prospect. Speaking of skating, I think his skating has improved a lot under Barb Underhill and that is really encouraging, but contrary to an earlier poster, he still isn't anywhere near a Patrick Kane on the blades.

His rate of improvement is very encouraging, especially for a late draft choice. There is no reason to spin his career trajectory as anything but a real positive. But you still don't pencil him in as a future top six Leaf.

 

[WhatASaveDave]

Conor Brown Needs To Get 9 Points in 12 Games To Reach Jim Hughe's Expectations of him taking a overage year