Best/Worst Case Prospect Comparison Thread

[Winsonian]

Hi guys! I'm sure after the lottery win most of you have been looking at our prospects and possible lines for next year and all that fun stuff. I remember during the Lottery Pre-show the panel had some NHL comparisons for the Prospects. I was wondering if we can do one for all the Leafs prospects. I would like to hear all your opinions on this one! Since we still don't know who the Leafs will pick at 1 (lol, it's gonna be Matthews), we should make comparisons for Matthews and both Finnish boys. Also, if you have been watching Vesey/Zaitsev play please make comparisons for them as well!

Name Best Case Worst Case

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[93LEAFS]

Hi guys! I'm sure after the lottery win most of you have been looking at our prospects and possible lines for next year and all that fun stuff. I remember during the Lottery Pre-show the panel had some NHL comparisons for the Prospects. I was wondering if we can do one for all the Leafs prospects. I would like to hear all your opinions on this one! Since we still don't know who the Leafs will pick at 1 (lol, it's gonna be Matthews), we should make comparisons for Matthews and both Finnish boys. Also, if you have been watching Vesey/Zaitsev play please make comparisons for them as well!

Name Best Case Worst Case

Matthews-best case is he's out all around goalscoring center in the mould of prime Sakic, worst case he's a 2nd line defensive player in the mould of Couturier or Jordan Staal.

Marner-Best case Patrick Kane, absolute worst case he's a winger version of Kyle Wellwood.

Nylander-Best case he's Datsyuk without the elite defence, worst case he's a tweener scoring winger with holes, think Gustav Nyquist.

Puljujarvi-Best case, he's a bigger Taylor Hall, worst case he's a 3rd line grinder with elite skating, Cogliano maybe?

Laine-Best case- Kovalchuk, absolute worst case- Michael Ryder.

 

[jjjshab]

Marner - Best case: a god. Worst case: Alyn McCauley

Nylander - Best case: mini Sundin. Worst case: Erik Cole

Brown - Best case: Dustin Brown (when he was good). Worst case: Brad Boyes (when he was good)

Johnson - Best case: Mike Cammalleri. Worst case: SHL lifer

Bracco - Best case: The Good Wellwood. Worst case: The Bad Wellwood.

Kapanen - Best case: mini Hossa. Worst case: Michael Grabner

Matthews - Best case: Jonathan Toews. Worst case: Derrick Brassard

Laine - Best case: The Good Semin. Worst case: the DGAF Semin, or like, idk... Lupul

Poolparty - Best case: Henrik Zetterberg. Worst case: Cog was a good one

 

[Voodoo Child]

Matthews:

Best Case: Kopitar/Toews (Franchise two-way C with 'intangibles')
Worst Case: David Legwand (Guy who put up 'decent' numbers but never justified his draft position)

Marner:

Best Case: Kane/Giroux (Ultra-creative winger/C)
Worst Case: Mikael Granlund (Elite hands and vision, but suffers from inconsistency and has size issues)

Nylander:

Best Case: Backstrom/Seguin (Gamebreaking 1st-line C)
Worst Case: Frans Nielsen (a fine player don't get me wrong...but I'd be very let down if Willy's ceiling was 50-point C with a very good 2-way game)

 

[Winsonian]

Wow those are some great comparisons, hope they all work out

But what about the other Leafs prospects like Percy or Leivo or Leipsic or The Goat or even some of the goaltenders? I heard Leipsic is supposed to be like Brad Marchand/Gallager, pesky wingers who can score. And in a perfect world Percy is the safe and steady Kaberle. What do u guys think ?

 

[HarryLime]

For Marner I would say Kane is absolute best. Sam Gagne would be not the worst but would be a realistic disappointing projection. I could throw in a bust that nv amounted to anything but i won't. I think Marner has a lower % chance of living up to his potential but if he hits it, look the f out.

Nylander to me is a safer bet. best case would be a more complete niklas backstrom but not as productive points wise. maybe 70-80 in his prime. worst case i would go with a guy like granlund tbh. still productive but not really a game changer. I have crazy expectations for king joff and feel he is a lock to be a very good top 6 player. people don't dominate mens leagues in sweden at 18, and the ahl at 18/19, and then come in to the nhl and play very well early on and bust often. he is gonna be good.

 

[LV*]

Matthews:
Toews/Kopitar or Gagner

Marner:
Kane/Giroux or Gagner

Nylander:
Kane/Giroux or Gagner

 

[Pucker77]

Leipsic:
best case - Brad Marchand
worst case - Alex Burrows (this past season)

Harrington:
Best case - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Worst case - Peter Harrold

Percy
Best case - luca sbisa
Worst case - AHLer

 

[Pucker77]

Matthews:
Best case - Jonathan Toews (70-ish point 2-way center)
Worst case - Alex Daigle (a couple good years before burning out)

Nylander:
Best case - Jason Spezza (70+ point quick and creative center)
Worst case - Robbie Schremp (incredible hands but translated to NHL)

Marner:
Best case - Patrick Kane (great hands and bountiful point producer)
Worst case - Linus Omark (creative with puck but to soft to make the NHL)

The thing says worst case yet most people are still mentioning ok-decent NHL players as their worst case. Obviously worst case is they never make the NHL or bust within 2-3 years so these are my choices.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Our prospects: Best case: Gretzky/Orr, Worst case: ECHLers

 

[Voodoo Child]

Leipsic:

Best case: Gallagher/Burrows (chippy small sparkplug winger with touch, hopefully unlike Bitey McSpearintheballs not one of the most shameful players to ever play the game)
Worst case: AHL lifer.

Leivo:

Best case: Toffoli/Saad (shoot-first winger with good size)
Worst case: AHL lifer

Gauthier:

Best case: Hanzal/Handzus (prototypical bottom 6 c with size)
Worst case: Steckel (essentially a face off specialist)

 

[snizzbone*]

Nylander - Best case: mini Sundin. Worst case: Erik Cole

Cole and Nylander play nothing alike..

Brown - Best case: Dustin Brown (when he was good). Worst case: Brad Boyes (when he was good)

Brown isn't nearly as physical as Dustin Brown. Brad Boyes when he was good was arguably better than Dustin Brown. No idea where these comparisons come from lol.

Laine - Best case: The Good Semin. Worst case: the DGAF Semin, or like, idk... Lupul

Laine is nothing like the good Semin outside of being really good scorers. Laine is a huge powerforward with a ridiculous shot. His best case is an Ovie/Kovalchuk type. Very strong north-south skater who has a bomb of a one timer.

replies in bold

 

[The_Chosen_One]

I don't see a Toews in Mathews. He is a far better skater and is more of a McDavid than a Bergeron/ Toews. The defensive maturity is an extra ( sort of like Crosby/ Malkin partaking in shut down duties) because what I see is centre who works the puck like magic.

Fluid skater, doesn't have any wasteful transitions when working at high speeds. He really can score and may end up rivaling the best in goals. Likewise his playmaking is criminally underrated. Not only does the puck remain plastered on his stick, but the elite vision and ability to utilise linemates well translates to a potential 100 point centre.

 

[Voodoo Child]

replies in bold

I don't see the 'Good Semin' comparison as that far off - Semin played small, but he certainly was not small (6'2 210...Laine is what, 6'3 200 now? Hard to get reliable heights and weights on prospects - I've read anything between 6'2 and 6'5 and 195 and 215), he also had an all-world shot arsenal (with a particularily deadly slapper), elite hands and was a good skater.

People also forget that Boyes once had the ofensive instincts to pot a 40 and a 30 goal season...that being said - it's very hard for me to peg Brown for several reasons...

- With the recent accumulation of actually good prospects, he's sort of become the forgotten man around here.
- Brown is a player that will find his way onto the scoresheet but just doesn't 'wow' you - he does everything 'Good', while only his playmaking is 'Great' - and it's still not on the level of Marner and Willy.

...I'm finding it hard to find a comparable for him.

Connor Brown:

Best Case - 50-60 point second line 'energy' winger who commands respect in the room and leaves it all out on the ice.
Worst Case - 4th liner who can play on the 3rd in the event of injuries.

One thing I dig? Brown is a sure bet to play in this league, he could be a near-star, but at the very least he's a good depth piece. Semin's failure, despite being over PPG from 2006-2010 is that he has no heart - Brown has that in spades. I think he'll wear a letter one day.

Aside from that we can agree - the only similarity with Dustin Brown is the name (prime Brown couldn't carry Connor's bag to the arena skill-wise - he got his points by getting his nose dirty and wearing the opposition down with the body - even with that odious contract (6 more years at 5.875), I'd still love a guy like him on the Leafs...with a significant add, of course *cough* Muzzin *cough*), prime Boyes isn't such a bad compare, and Nylander and Cole are nothing alike. In his prime, Cole was a power forward.

 

[hullsy47]

Wow those are some great comparisons, hope they all work out

But what about the other Leafs prospects like Percy or Leivo or Leipsic or The Goat or even some of the goaltenders? I heard Leipsic is supposed to be like Brad Marchand/Gallager, pesky wingers who can score. And in a perfect world Percy is the safe and steady Kaberle. What do u guys think ?

frattin and casey bailey were both in the running for hobey baker ,so Vesey best case scenario he plays as good a Zach hyman ,worst case see above

 

[jjjshab]

I probably should have mentioned that I don't envision Nylander to be a heavy hitter, if one at all. Erik Cole was a snipe show, the same as Nylander. You think if he gets moved to, say, Kadri's wing that he'll be the one carrying the puck and making plays? No, he'll be the trigger man.

One of the reasons I hated the Nylander/Hyman pairing on the Leafs was because Hyman would never give him the puck. When Nylander was the one carrying the puck into the zone, he would create. That's a glimpse of the best case. When his teammates had the puck and they could find him, it was snipe city. That's the worst case.

Here is an Erik Cole highlight:



You're telling me you haven't seen Nylander make the exact same plays? I have. He's not incapable of making power moves to drive the net. The only difference is the hitting. Again, this is the worst case scenario for him.

As for Laine: I find it hard to fathom comparing anyone to Alex Ovechkin; arguably the greatest scorer of all time, and undoubtedly the greatest goal scorer of his generation. Ovi has dominated his age group since forever. He was playing in the (now) KHL at 16 years old. They like to shoot from the same spot on the PP, does that mean we should compare Stamkos to Laine, or Ovechkin for that matter?

If you wanna knock my picks for the physicality aspect, note that Ovi was (and sometimes is still) a freight train. When he first entered the league he made monster hits every other shift. His top speed is insane for someone with his body type.

Laine is nowhere near as dynamic as Ovechkin. He has raw skills. If he can put it together on a consistent basis, he will be a great player.

As for (Connor) Brown, there isn't much disparity between his ceiling and his floor. Obviously, you're not very high on prime Dustin. They're both the same in that they will do whatever their team needs them to do. They can both play up and down the lineup. Both play with heart and grit. (This is pre-2012 DB, remember). And both are capable of finishing. Dustin was a key cog during the Kings' reign. People knock him now because he fell off and his contract is atrocious, but that shouldn't discount what got him to that point.

 

[Silent Knight]

Marner - Best case: a god. Worst case: Alyn McCauley

Seeya.

 

[CreeksideStrangler]

I probably should have mentioned that I don't envision Nylander to be a heavy hitter, if one at all. Erik Cole was a snipe show, the same as Nylander. You think if he gets moved to, say, Kadri's wing that he'll be the one carrying the puck and making plays? No, he'll be the trigger man.

One of the reasons I hated the Nylander/Hyman pairing on the Leafs was because Hyman would never give him the puck. When Nylander was the one carrying the puck into the zone, he would create. That's a glimpse of the best case. When his teammates had the puck and they could find him, it was snipe city. That's the worst case.

Here is an Erik Cole highlight:



You're telling me you haven't seen Nylander make the exact same plays? I have. He's not incapable of making power moves to drive the net. The only difference is the hitting. Again, this is the worst case scenario for him.

As for Laine: I find it hard to fathom comparing anyone to Alex Ovechkin; arguably the greatest scorer of all time, and undoubtedly the greatest goal scorer of his generation. Ovi has dominated his age group since forever. He was playing in the (now) KHL at 16 years old. They like to shoot from the same spot on the PP, does that mean we should compare Stamkos to Laine, or Ovechkin for that matter?

If you wanna knock my picks for the physicality aspect, note that Ovi was (and sometimes is still) a freight train. When he first entered the league he made monster hits every other shift. His top speed is insane for someone with his body type.

Laine is nowhere near as dynamic as Ovechkin. He has raw skills. If he can put it together on a consistent basis, he will be a great player.

As for (Connor) Brown, there isn't much disparity between his ceiling and his floor. Obviously, you're not very high on prime Dustin. They're both the same in that they will do whatever their team needs them to do. They can both play up and down the lineup. Both play with heart and grit. (This is pre-2012 DB, remember). And both are capable of finishing. Dustin was a key cog during the Kings' reign. People knock him now because he fell off and his contract is atrocious, but that shouldn't discount what got him to that point.

I agree wirth buddy your comparisons seem drawn from a hat.