Prospect Info: Marlies/Prospects Thread - 2021/22
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SeaOfBlue
The Passion That Unites Us All
- Aug 1, 2013
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Tverberg is a pleasant surprise, especially for a guy playing for a university which is not known for producing a ton of high end talent.
However, it is also important to note that before Covid, he was on track to go to Harvard as a D+1... You have to be pretty damn talented to play for Harvard as a D+1. So I guess it should not come as a major surprise that he is doing fairly well at UConn.
He did impress me in the OJHL highlights I saw. I didn't know it would translate this well, but this is what he was at the OJHL level.
I am curious to see if Cole O'Hara will get drafted this year. He was another really good 02' OJHLer and is one of the top producing USHL guys. I bet Tampa drafts him... They seem to do pretty well with those D+2 USHLers, and he has some good skill/pace for a modern day bottom 6 role on a team like Tampa.
However, it is also important to note that before Covid, he was on track to go to Harvard as a D+1... You have to be pretty damn talented to play for Harvard as a D+1. So I guess it should not come as a major surprise that he is doing fairly well at UConn.
He did impress me in the OJHL highlights I saw. I didn't know it would translate this well, but this is what he was at the OJHL level.
I am curious to see if Cole O'Hara will get drafted this year. He was another really good 02' OJHLer and is one of the top producing USHL guys. I bet Tampa drafts him... They seem to do pretty well with those D+2 USHLers, and he has some good skill/pace for a modern day bottom 6 role on a team like Tampa.
Anthrax442
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ovy will join once his work permit goes through. So maybe this week or next. I would think Amirov will join in March once KHL playoffs get underway
Marlies blueliners make case for Leafs defence | The Star
“I’m from Long Island, so I’m pretty loud,” the 24-year-old Duszak, from Franklin Square, N.Y., said in a recent telephone interview. “There’s different leadership qualities, and Rich Clune (Marlies captain) has all of them. Mine is to keep everyone loose and if they’re in a bad mood, or they’re not performing the way they should, I try to make sure everyone is laughing and having fun."
“After practices and games, and after losses, there’s guys you need who can do that.”
Duszak can score, too — fourth among AHL defencemen with 29 points in 29 games heading into the weekend. And Král, who has 18 points, put up two goals and four assists in four games in that memorable week to earn league honours.
Several Marlies defencemen spent time on the Leafs’ taxi squad when it was in effect earlier this season, including Král, who never got into a game but said the experience alone was invaluable.
“I got to spend time (in an NHL program), I got to see what it’s like, and that always helps your confidence for the future,” said the 22-year-old Czech, drafted 149th by the Leafs in 2018.
For the undrafted Duszak, signed in 2018, offence comes naturally. For Král, it’s skating, puck handling and playmaking. Both face the same hurdles before making the jump: improving their positioning and physical play in front of their net.
“For me, I need to improve in the D-zone, battles in the corner. I need to improve there to be an NHL player,” Král said in a telephone interview. “My skating is good, but I have to be hard in front of the net — box-outs and things like that.”
Marlies coach Greg Moore gives Duszak heavy minutes against top opposition forwards, but says his challenge is to become harder to play against at five-foot-nine and 180 pounds without sacrificing offence.
“That’s something we’ve worked on with him, and this season we’ve seen the most growth with him that way,” the coach said.
.................
Moore doesn’t think Kral’s ascent to the NHL will take much longer. And while the Leafs have five blueliners signed through next season, Sandin and Liljegren will be entering restricted free agency. There could be a transition period on the horizon.
Duszak, though, is also eligible for restricted free agency next season, a factor that combined with his AHL production might end up making him a trade chip at the NHL deadline.
“I’m from Long Island, so I’m pretty loud,” the 24-year-old Duszak, from Franklin Square, N.Y., said in a recent telephone interview. “There’s different leadership qualities, and Rich Clune (Marlies captain) has all of them. Mine is to keep everyone loose and if they’re in a bad mood, or they’re not performing the way they should, I try to make sure everyone is laughing and having fun."
“After practices and games, and after losses, there’s guys you need who can do that.”
Duszak can score, too — fourth among AHL defencemen with 29 points in 29 games heading into the weekend. And Král, who has 18 points, put up two goals and four assists in four games in that memorable week to earn league honours.
Several Marlies defencemen spent time on the Leafs’ taxi squad when it was in effect earlier this season, including Král, who never got into a game but said the experience alone was invaluable.
“I got to spend time (in an NHL program), I got to see what it’s like, and that always helps your confidence for the future,” said the 22-year-old Czech, drafted 149th by the Leafs in 2018.
For the undrafted Duszak, signed in 2018, offence comes naturally. For Král, it’s skating, puck handling and playmaking. Both face the same hurdles before making the jump: improving their positioning and physical play in front of their net.
“For me, I need to improve in the D-zone, battles in the corner. I need to improve there to be an NHL player,” Král said in a telephone interview. “My skating is good, but I have to be hard in front of the net — box-outs and things like that.”
Marlies coach Greg Moore gives Duszak heavy minutes against top opposition forwards, but says his challenge is to become harder to play against at five-foot-nine and 180 pounds without sacrificing offence.
“That’s something we’ve worked on with him, and this season we’ve seen the most growth with him that way,” the coach said.
.................
Moore doesn’t think Kral’s ascent to the NHL will take much longer. And while the Leafs have five blueliners signed through next season, Sandin and Liljegren will be entering restricted free agency. There could be a transition period on the horizon.
Duszak, though, is also eligible for restricted free agency next season, a factor that combined with his AHL production might end up making him a trade chip at the NHL deadline.
I like Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander as our top 6 for now. Would rather leave Robertson in the A to build momentum and develop.
djdev
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i think kerfoot is miscast as a winger on that line personally
ACC1224
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WTFMAN99
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That 2nd line has been pretty ineffective at 5v5 for weeks now.
88 broke out a bit against the Blues but man I really think it was more individual effort/talent on 88's part than anything the line did.
We need to invest time in our own. Hoglander is over 100GP as a 2nd rounder in the same draft, Kaliyev 50GP and Leason at 35GP.
No issue in giving him a spin.
I think Kyle said it perfectly yesterday in his media availability. Nick's last 2 years have been anything but normal. He's been yo-yo'd between the NHL, Taxi Squad, and AHL. If he's not in transit he is likely injured.
I do agree with Kyle's assessment of Nick's current game. He is playing the best hockey he has played at the AHL level. He is quietly anticipating the play a lot better on both sides of the puck, and he seems to be slipping beneath the cracks a bit more on the offensive side. Something that all premier goal scorers know how to do. That has been an area that I felt like Nick struggled with at the pro level.
He's also considerably stronger on his feet along the boards. This is the area I think he has grown the most from even this time last year. He was a complete mess in that regard last year. He could not stay on his feet to save his life. At least 5-10 times a game he'd be peeling himself off of the ice a la Mason Raymond.
To me, I don't think Nick should even be called up at any point this season. Let him dominate the AHL. He has yet to do that IMO. Like Kyle said yesterday, make him "force our hand". 7Pts in 7 GP is just not forcing our hand yet. It's a good start, but he needs to show that he can take over games with consistency before he makes the jump into the Leafs lineup IMO.
As good as he looks, he is still not NHL ready at the current moment IMO. But this time around I don't think it has anything to do with his size and strength. He just needs to get his timing locked in and get some consistent reps at the AHL level. I do think he needs to be promoted within the Marlies lineup. He needs to be PP1, and he needs to be playing top line minutes. He should be our primary focus with respect to the Marlies, but that's just me.
I do agree with Kyle's assessment of Nick's current game. He is playing the best hockey he has played at the AHL level. He is quietly anticipating the play a lot better on both sides of the puck, and he seems to be slipping beneath the cracks a bit more on the offensive side. Something that all premier goal scorers know how to do. That has been an area that I felt like Nick struggled with at the pro level.
He's also considerably stronger on his feet along the boards. This is the area I think he has grown the most from even this time last year. He was a complete mess in that regard last year. He could not stay on his feet to save his life. At least 5-10 times a game he'd be peeling himself off of the ice a la Mason Raymond.
To me, I don't think Nick should even be called up at any point this season. Let him dominate the AHL. He has yet to do that IMO. Like Kyle said yesterday, make him "force our hand". 7Pts in 7 GP is just not forcing our hand yet. It's a good start, but he needs to show that he can take over games with consistency before he makes the jump into the Leafs lineup IMO.
As good as he looks, he is still not NHL ready at the current moment IMO. But this time around I don't think it has anything to do with his size and strength. He just needs to get his timing locked in and get some consistent reps at the AHL level. I do think he needs to be promoted within the Marlies lineup. He needs to be PP1, and he needs to be playing top line minutes. He should be our primary focus with respect to the Marlies, but that's just me.
stickty111
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djdev
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man i cant wait for knies to be ready, he seems perfect for that spot, but ye we need to find another solution, since taking kerfoot off an effective 3rd line makes it even worse imo.
Those 2 players also play on considerably worse teams, and are not exactly ripping it up either.
Sure they are given an opportunity, but they are almost getting away from the players they could potentially be.
Hoglander is a tertiary piece in Vancouver and is barely producing at an acceptable rate and Kaliyev is on the 4th line and is again being cast as a player he projects to be nothing of. I am not trying to suggest that their time in the NHL is not valuable, but they are likely still making very crucial mistakes in their limited time on the ice. Without having a great opportunity to produce it could really effect how that player feels about themselves.
IMO we are not developing Nick to be a tertiary option for us. He should step into our lineup and be given a chance to do what he does best right away. Produce.
We saw it in the bubble, Nick playing on the 3rd line was largely a disaster. Sure he got a goal, but he was ineffective every other game. He wasn't ready, and he wasn't given the ice time to outproduce his flaws. It may have been a good experience for him, but in the end it was largely a failed attempt at injecting life down the lineup. We don't need more of that IMO.
Bring Nick up when we are confident he can assume the 2nd line LW position. At that time, slot Kerf down the lineup where we know he will remain effective. I am open to that possibility occurring this season, just not now. He needs to force our hand with his play on the Marlies.
Agreed on all of this. Robertson hasn't been ready at all and hasn't looked like an impact player at all. Let him stew in the AHL.
SeaOfBlue
The Passion That Unites Us All
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What is wrong with putting Robertson on the 4th line though? I don't think he needs to immediately take over for Kerfoot in the top 6 if he wants to crack the NHL. Put him on a 4th line with Engvall and Spezza, he can get some special teams minutes, and he can feast against some weaker competition. If we are concerned about depth scoring, he is a solid in-house option.
I wouldn't do that right now though. I think you play out the next 20-25 games and then for the last 10 games or so, try it out. Use Simmonds, Dzingel, or Anderson on the 4th line in the meantime.
I just don't think there has been a seismic improvement in Nick's game to suggest he would be any more effective in that 4th line/bottom 6 role now than he was in the bubble. Nick is not a bottom 6 guy. He is a goal scorer who needs to touch the puck. He has improved his play away from the puck, but not nearly enough to play bottom 6 minutes IMO. The truth of the matter is, even the best 4th lines in hockey for the most part play neutral hockey. We don't need scoring on the 4th line, we need players who can provide energy and limit mistakes. The latter being the thing Nick would struggle the most with in a reduced role. You can take the role away from the goal scorer, but you'll never be able to take the goal scorer's mindset out of the role. If Nick is put in a role where his job is to play neutral/hard to play against minutes, he will still always lean to cheat offensively. That's how goal scorers typically work.
I'd rather wait until he legitimately dominates the AHL, just in the same respect Nylander and Kadri did and then give him the same opportunity they got when they broke into the league.
Sure, Kapanen/Brown/Hyman/Johnnson/Engvall...etc could all be used as examples of players that didn't necessarily dominate at he AHL before getting their chance at the NHL. But all of those players all played almost 100 AHL games before making the jump. Not to mention none of the players above had even a sliver of the amount of talent as Nick does at his current age. So bringing them up to fill a complimentary role was just part of their career trajectory.
Nick is a top 6 forward IMO. He needs to dominate as such in the American League and then, and only then would I give him the opportunity to show his shit at the next level. It did wonders for Kadri and Willy, and it will do wonders for Nick as well.
Remember all the failed attempts at breaking Kadri into the NHL as a tertiary player? Only to have him break out in the lockout shortened season as a top 6 guy? I feel like it will be the same idea with Nick
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zeke
The Dube Abides
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People still don't seem to realize how young Nick is.
This is his official AHL rookie season in normal non-covid times.
Kadri at 20 was in his normal AHL rookie year and had his first NHL call up midway through.
The issue with Kadri was that he was dinked around for a full two more years after and was still 0laying in the AHL at age 22.
SeaOfBlue
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Robertson absolutely can be a bottom 6 guy. His defensive game is more than good enough for it, and he even PK's now. Now I don't think throwing him on that 3rd line is exactly the best use of his talents, but if we need a guy on that 4th line who can provide more of a scoring punch than Spezza and Simmonds have provided, I think that is a role that Robertson can handle right now. Especially since that 4th line has really soft usage where he can feast against weaker lines; something Simmonds and Spezza have struggled to do.
That being said, it is not a role I would want him to fill permanently, and I would probably prefer he is back in the AHL in 2022-2023 until he is 100% ready to fill a role higher up in the lineup (which would probably be some time in 2023). But that does not preclude him from being a factor for us in the playoffs this year if we think he provides an element that would make that 4th line more dangerous, and I would rather use Robertson than pay good assets to add an external 4th liner who is not really any better than Robertson would be in that role.
I was just about to add this.
The only thing abnormal about Nick's development thus far is that he exceeded expectations to a level we've probably never seen from a 2nd rounder in 1 season, to the point where he played his first NHL game in a bubble at the age of 18 years old. Add a shut down of his Junior league the following year and 3 serious injuries and this kid has had anything but a normal development. But he's still miles ahead of the game from where he realistically should be as a D+3 prospect @ 53OA
if he continues to produce at pt/game pace through the remainder of the Marlies season as a 20 year old, it would be a remarkable achievement for a 20 year old.
I am a big fan of Nick's. I think he can be a game breaker for us eventually. But he still has some kinks to work out. As does pretty well every 20 year old prospect on the planet.
We do not need to rush Nick. We need him to start feeling good about his game. Dominating or even just producing in the AHL will do just that. This is a kid who wanted to be a Leaf at 18 years old, so one can only imagine what's going on in between his ears. This was the kid who decided to forego a once in a lifetime tournament for a sliver of a chance to be an NHL'er in 2021. He passed up a WJC gold medal to try to be a NHL'er at the age of 19. He's as dedicated to being great as any prospect I can remember. He probably feels like he's failed himself, which is crazy.
If he can continue to fill the net in the AHL, that confidence is going to go through the roof. He will at that point force Kyle's hand, and he will have no other choice but to call him up. He's not done that yet. But I wouldn't put that past him in the coming months.
That's also why I have said I don't understand why Greg Moore has him on L2/PP2 right now. We need this kid to get his swagger back IMO. Because he legitimately could be our Cole Caufield in the playoffs this coming spring/summer. Give this kid the room to explode offensively. It doesn't have to come at the expense of his play away from the puck. Just give him 4 mins of PP time a night instead of 2. Give him an extra shift at the end of a period or into a TV timeout. Shit like that. Ride your horses
SeaOfBlue
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Joey Anderson with a PP goal and a SH goal in less than 10 minutes.
Love Joey Anderson. He should have a full time gig in the NHL next year. All due respect to Wayne Simmonds
CantLoseWithMatthews
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great period for Anderson. I wish he could get more of a look in the NHL
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