Prospect Info: Marlies/Prospects

[Kiwi]

no I mean what happened resulting in this recent span of goals?

Our scorers are scoring again, Duszak and Hollowell are putting their offensive games together at that level and I think our bottom 6 looks more balanced, the PP looks better as well

 

[DevinH2004]

Yea honestly everything looks better for the Marlies right now. Was great to see the team battle and get that win. Great to see Woll get the W after the rough start.

A few things they really need to continue to do as far as the line-up:

Keep Harpur/Schmaltz out (less so Schmaltz but Harpur is atrocious and I’m way more confident with the kids/Gravel in)
Trade Bracco (I realize there is something going on behind the scenes but his play has not been up to snuff this year and I don’t think it’s any coincidence they’re playing better now giving more ice time to other players)
Keep guys like Baptiste and Clune out (neither seems AHL caliber now and I’d even put Archibald on this list)

 

[Canada4Gold]

Robertson's got another goal. Glad that loooooong slump is over

 

[Orfieus]

 

[BertCorbeau]

That kid can shoot

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Newfoundland's home win streak ends at 19 games

 

[Maplebeasts]

That is an NHL shot right now. The guy is going to score a lot of goals for us

 

[Fogelhund]

He's a lot like Hollowell, very strong offensive play driver
But still some work to do defensively

When you say Hollowell and Duszak need "some work defensively", do you mean they are good, but need a little work, or they are ok, and need quite a bit of work, or they are bloody disasters? What are the odds these guys see the NHL?

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

When you say Hollowell and Duszak need "some work defensively", do you mean they are good, but need a little work, or they are ok, and need quite a bit of work, or they are bloody disasters? What are the odds these guys see the NHL?

Duszak is a disaster defensively, Hollowell is better, but both need a lot of work at the pro level.

 

[aingefan]

Duszak is a disaster defensively, Hollowell is better, but both need a lot of work at the pro level.

Duszak’s gonna end up a winger, I think.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

When you say Hollowell and Duszak need "some work defensively", do you mean they are good, but need a little work, or they are ok, and need quite a bit of work, or they are bloody disasters? What are the odds these guys see the NHL?

Hollowell actually has decent defensive instincts and effort from what I've seen, he just struggles with puck battles and physical play. Duszak is a pretty big disaster

 

[Kiwi]

When you say Hollowell and Duszak need "some work defensively", do you mean they are good, but need a little work, or they are ok, and need quite a bit of work, or they are bloody disasters? What are the odds these guys see the NHL?

Duszak is an disaster defensively, he's got great offensive instincts but he'd make Barrie look like Pronger when the puck isn't on his stick

Hollowell is better but he's not particularly good either, he does use his body to help himself defend but he has a lot of work to do still

Not great, maybe one of them becomes a sheltered bottom pair PP QB if things go well from here but neither player is close defensively yet

 

[saltming]

Marchment and Korshkov are coming up soon and they are bloody entertaining.

Good call

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Duszak’s gonna end up a winger, I think.

His value is as a defenseman. He's not making the NHL as a winger, especially not on the Leafs. He could make the NHL as a defenseman here, but it's going to take a lot of work.

Worst case, he becomes an AHL offensive defenseman for the Marlies and just needs to be heavily sheltered. Kind of like a TJ Brennan.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Duszak is an disaster defensively, he's got great offensive instincts but he'd make Barrie look like Pronger when the puck isn't on his stick

Hollowell is better but he's not particularly good either, he does use his body to help himself defend but he has a lot of work to do still

Not great, maybe one of them becomes a sheltered bottom pair PP QB if things go well from here but neither player is close defensively yet

Those do not exist anymore, and if they do, they are practically worthless.

 

[Kiwi]

Those do not exist anymore, and if they do, they are practically worthless.

A team can easily carry a 15 minutes a night bottom pair PP QB if you need a PP QB option

Just like you can carry a 15 minutes a night PK option on the bottom pair if you need one

 

[SeaOfBlue]

A team can easily carry a 15 minutes a night bottom pair PP QB if you need a PP QB option

Just like you can carry a 15 minutes a night PK option on the bottom pair if you need one

Most teams only have 2 PP defensemen. It's acceptable to have a 15 minute PK option because you need 4 or 5 of them in your lineup, out of 6 defensemen. And that 15 minute PK option can also be relied upon to eat some defensive minutes to open up time for your top guys offensively.

If all that guy can do is PP and needs to be sheltered, teams don't need/want that. Most likely two of your other 5 defenseman are as good or better at PP than that guy anyways, and it's putting extra strain on your other defensemen for little to no positive gain.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Just finished watching yesterday's Marlies game. I thought Woll was fine. Most of the goals I can't really fault him on. 3 of them were scored on rebounds, one was a tip, one was a good power move on a breakaway and the 2nd goal I'm not 100% but he might have been screened. Overall he looked strong and came up with some huge saves at times.

Hollowel is starting to come into his own in the AHL but takes a lot of risks.

Didn't realize Duszak has 11 pts in 13 AHL games.

 

[Kiwi]

Most teams only have 2 PP defensemen. It's acceptable to have a 15 minute PK option because you need 4 or 5 of them in your lineup, out of 6 defensemen. And that 15 minute PK option can also be relied upon to eat some defensive minutes to open up time for your top guys offensively.

If all that guy can do is PP and needs to be sheltered, teams don't need/want that. Most likely two of your other 5 defenseman are as good or better at PP than that guy anyways, and it's putting extra strain on your other defensemen for little to no positive gain.

Depends on how good he is

If the PP QB is the best one in the organization and your playing the top unit 1:30+ per PP it's impacting the game and taking minutes away from the other guys you can reallocate to 5v5 play

 

[LeafParade]

Any chance either Duszak or Hollowell get converted to forwards?

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Depends on how good he is

If the PP QB is the best one in the organization and your playing the top unit 1:30+ per PP it's impacting the game and taking minutes away from the other guys you can reallocate to 5v5 play

The chances of that happening, where a defenseman is good enough to supplant every other defenseman in PP but not good enough to do anything else, are extremely rare, if not impossible.

And then you are practically just opening up the possibility of running a 5 forward PP, which is probably better than having a 15 minute PP defenseman...

Regardless, Duszak/Hollowell are not going to be able to be those guys. They are going to need to develop defensively and provide value beyond offense or they have zero chance of becoming NHL defenders... Because even if they become 50 point NHL defensemen, which is beyond their skill sets at this point, they still need to be better defensively to stick around.

 

[Kiwi]

The chances of that happening, where a defenseman is good enough to supplant every other defenseman in PP but not good enough to do anything else, are extremely rare, if not impossible.

And then you are practically just opening up the possibility of running a 5 forward PP, which is probably better than having a 15 minute PP defenseman...

Regardless, Duszak/Hollowell are not going to be able to be those guys. They are going to need to develop defensively and provide value beyond offense or they have zero chance of becoming NHL defenders... Because even if they become 50 point NHL defensemen, which is beyond their skill sets at this point, they still need to be better defensively to stick around.

Barrie would beg to differ, he's the worst defensive defenseman I've ever seen, with appalling defensive fundamentals but what he brings offensively outweigh his negatives

So if those kids can become offensive play drivers at the pro level they have a shot even if they struggle to defend, Duszak is an extremely good puck distributor on the PP already with significantly less talent to work with

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Barrie would beg to differ, he's the worst defensive defenseman I've ever seen, with appalling defensive fundamentals but what he brings offensively outweigh his negatives

So if those kids can become offensive play drivers at the pro level they have a shot even if they struggle to defend, Duszak is an extremely good puck distributor on the PP already with significantly less talent to work with

Barrie is also a 60 point defenseman who plays 22 minutes a night in the NHL and a lot better than Duszak and Hollowell right now. Literally the only reason he has an NHL job right now. If Barrie was only able to be a PP specialist who was only able to be trusted with 15 minutes a night, he would not be in the NHL right now.

Duszak and Hollowell would still need to improve to get to even Barrie's level defensively, which as you said was appalling, and would need to do a lot more offensively to get to a point where it is acceptable to stick around despite being crap defensively.

Offensive defensemen are liabilities that teams do not want unless they are elite offensively, like Barrie. Even Gardiner had to settle for a deal which was a lot worse than he was originally expecting. Those types of defensemen are going just as fast as, if not faster than, the defensemen who struggle to move the puck. Most of these offensive capable defensemen have to be at least passable defensively to stick around, and have to be pretty damn good offensively (usually like top 50 at least) to make up for it.

All I am saying is that if you want to see Duszak and Hollowell in the NHL, they would be wise to focus on their defensive game. PKing may not be mandatory, but it would certainly help their case. Certainly more than being another PP guy.

 

[Kiwi]

Barrie is also a 60 point defenseman who plays 22 minutes a night in the NHL and a lot better than Duszak and Hollowell right now. Literally the only reason he has an NHL job right now. If Barrie was only able to be a PP specialist who was only able to be trusted with 15 minutes a night, he would not be in the NHL right now.

Duszak and Hollowell would still need to improve to get to even Barrie's level defensively, which as you said was appalling, and would need to do a lot more offensively to get to a point where it is acceptable to stick around despite being crap defensively.

Offensive defensemen are liabilities that teams do not want unless they are elite offensively, like Barrie. Even Gardiner had to settle for a deal which was a lot worse than he was originally expecting. Those types of defensemen are going just as fast as, if not faster than, the defensemen who struggle to move the puck. Most of these offensive capable defensemen have to be at least passable defensively to stick around, and have to be pretty damn good offensively (usually like top 50 at least) to make up for it.

All I am saying is that if you want to see Duszak and Hollowell in the NHL, they would be wise to focus on their defensive game. PKing may not be mandatory, but it would certainly help their case. Certainly more than being another PP guy.

That's because they are still kids developing their defensive games and yes Barrie would be on a team because he's a 1 PP QB and offensive play driver, his positive attributes outweigh his negatives, which are also pretty prominent

I'm not debating those kids need to work on their defensive games, it's just not good enough but what I am saying is if they can drive play offensively (not impossible) it can mitigate some of their defensive frailties and get them on a roster

 

[SeaOfBlue]

That's because they are still kids developing their defensive games and yes Barrie would be on a team because he's a 1 PP QB and offensive play driver, his positive attributes outweigh his negatives, which are also pretty prominent

I'm not debating those kids need to work on their defensive games, it's just not good enough but what I am saying is if they can drive play offensively (not impossible) it can mitigate some of their defensive frailties and get them on a roster

I don't disagree, but we are still talking about having to get a guy who needs to be good enough defensively where they are not sheltered, or slightly sheltered. Essentially looking for guys like Travis Dermott is right now. He is not perfect defensively, but Dermott is still pretty good. Dermott can play at least 18 minutes a night and can PK (although even if he did not PK, not that big of a deal).

That's essentially what you are hoping for out of a Hollowell or Duszak or even a Kral. Still need to be pretty good defensively, and still need to play more than 15 or 16 sheltered minutes once they are fully developed.