OT: Public Tryouts for the Leafs

[BooRadley]

I'm sure quite a few folks here thought about making the team out of camp with some kind of tryout similar to American Idol.

I'm past my best before date and never would try out myself, but seeing how baseball and basketball execs can find diamonds in the rough overseas, is it possible for any Joe Blow to make the team out of camp by just walking in to some kind of training camp?

I know it's pretty far fetched because you would need to know how to skate first and foremost among other things, rather than learning skills on your own with a ball and / or stick. I would bet there's quite a few people on these boards that might catch a small look if there were some kind of public camp. Clarkson came out of nowhere and he's just one example.

Is it near mandatory to make the team the conventional way by starting young in junior and making your way up through whatever leagues until a scout notices you? I would imagine there's lot of politics behind the scenes I'm not even aware similar to how someone might plateau in the corporate world. Don't flame, it's just a question I've always wondered and never knew who to ask. I'm sure some of you thought the same thing at some point in your life.

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[ThrowDemTongs]

Vince,
You'll never go anywhere
You'll never make any money
And you'll never make a name for yourself

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Fairly sure this exists at the ECHL level, but it would never fly in the NHL anymore.

However some ECHLers do eventually make the NHL so you never know.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Sorry, your cap hit is too high

 

[Eternal Leaf]

NHL/AHL tryouts are impossible for a random player. Anyone good enough to make it to those tryouts will have some history in the youth system and will be known to scouts.

Just like Clarkson. He was known as a teenage prospect despite starting late.

Even the average benched players are too good these days and would skate circles around lower-level players. They would be Wayne Gretzky in those leagues.

 

[cesareborgia]

I've been hoping they'd do this. I'm what many would call a "maestro" of hockey. An absolute beauty on the ice. A killer on the puck. Obviously Matthews and Marner have superior skill to my own, but I'm absolutely positive I could take a spot from Engvall, Galchenyuk, Mikheyev, Kerfoot, etc.

Instead of going pro I dedicated all of my late teens and early 20s to education, but I never lost my skill. Having returned to the ice recently, I understand how absolutely dominant I am.

I have blazing speed, I hit, I have a solid snipe and a dangerous slapper. Get ready because you all will be buying my jersey soon.

 

[BM14]

It's hard enough to be an extra in a movie....This? No chance of a Vince Papale here.

 

[djdev]

rudy on skates might get ugly lol

 

[Voodoo Child]

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Your only real shot if you're some house league type of player is trying out as a walk-on to a junior or college team. Even then, you'd be lucky to make it onto an ECHL team, meanwhile, the AHL and then NHL. I know a few guys who've gone the unconventional route and have managed to be walk-ons with NCAA teams and have made a decent living playing in Euro leagues. That being said, you still need to be unbelievably skilled to even do that.

 

[hamzarocks]

Man I remember when I was in grade 8 me and my friend got into actually playing hockey. We were big fans of the leafs and loved watching but we wanted to play hockey

Living in Scarborough, mostly just started playing road hockey with a few other school friends. We thought we could take things up(our friends sucked compared to us and we felt like elite upcomers)

Decided to go to a local skating rink in malvern to self teach our selves how to skate. We went for a couple of months and planned that by Gr 9 we'd enter single A hockey (not realizing the costs or time parents would input at that level, which neither of our parents would have the ability to do due to work).

I remember us talking how we would shoot up the system and become great junior players asking AAA by Gr 11 and then playing a season in the OHL in Gr 12 and then get drafted to the NHL on the leafs.

It was a beautiful dream which lasted a sweet length of 2 months. Near the end of the 2nd month we were practicing our skating at the rink. There was a small kid, he was probably in grade 5 or so. His skating... make us look like we were 3 year olds lool.

When we asked if he played bantam hockey he replied yea and that he was a 3rd line player on his team.

That was the moment we both realized how foolish our dreams were seeing how this incredible skating kid (who was miles better than us as 5th grader while we were in 8th grade) was only a 3rd line player for his youth team

That just showed me how insane actual athletes are. That kid probably didn't even make the OHL, yet he was so so so much better at the most important component of hockey than us it was not even funny.

NHLer's/AHLer's/ECHLer's are so incredibly skilled and talented that it's impossible for a person who starts playing hockey so late and has more proper organized hockey background in their youth to have a chance of playing/hanging with them .

Hockey players and general players in any major league are just so far above a random person that the discussion is just not even worth the time

No player can just go to a try out and make the NHL. If he was that good he'd be in some sort of tracked and ranked junior system leading to drafting or a team scouting and pursuing him as a free agent. AHL PTOs who make the NHL have a rich and extensive hockey background as well having played at very high level of the game before trying to make it to the highest level out there(the NHL)

 

[Mickey Marner]

Being that good at hockey requires a lot ice time, thousands of hours we're talking. There's no way to be that good and not be known of. It's not like basketball or soccer where you can develop an elite skillset with unorganized play.

 

[IrishInOntario]

While what you're proposing is definitely "far fetched", as you admitted, the reality does exist that plenty of guys that were "good enough" in sports, don't make it, for one reason or another.

I was involved in P5 caliber, NCAA football, at prominent school and you'd be shocked at how many guys came through there that had all the talent in the world, but who didn't make it to the NFL, for one reason, or another. Usually, it was because becoming a professional requires as a consistancy in improvement and skill refinement, through work ethic, and a lot of good kids, are raised in environments without any form of consistent approach, so it's not a skill set they learn or refine. It's a shame, but Isaw a number of kids flame out, get in trouble, and become distracted, simply because they didn't have discipline, or in some cases, the pure passion for the sport, to keep up the excellence neccessary, over time. Watched plenty of lesser talented guys get drafted and go on to good NFL careers, because what they lacked in top end talent, they made up for in drive, dedication and a single-minded focus.

All that is to say that there are definitely guys walking around in public that are skilled enough to play in the NHL, but the intangibles that it takes to make it, refine yourself for a role and stick, are what separates the the guys you watch on TV and those you don't.

 

[Ciao]

This kind of gimmick has nothing to do with player development and would only be an unwelcome sideshow.

It's the kind of thing Harold Ballard might have liked.

There's zero chance it would help the Leafs.

 

[Superstar]

Who on the Leafs roster could anyone doing a public tryout displace? Sandin, Lily, because they are not regulars...maybe young Adam Brooks...Kerfoot because his cap hit is too high...or maybe a 4th liner like Jason Spezza or Joe Thornton? Maybe the guy will get lucky and play on the first line with Matthews and Marner.

I agree with the sideshow comment.

 

[justloveleafs]

Its too bad, but I don't think the public would care all that much. ECHL, now is like the AHL, 20 years ago imo.

But who wants to watch that, I might, but man, not too many people love hockey more than I do.

If LEAFNATION is granted a cup, against Boston in the finals, maybe something could happen.

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

This kind of happened with a show called "Making the Cut" in 2004. 68 players competed for 6 spots at canadian team training camps.

Even then most of those guys had some kind of junior or college hockey success prior to the show.

 

[Subway Schenn]

Different sport, but Toronto FC did something like this prior to their first season. A friend of mine from high school participated in tryouts and made it pretty far... ultimately he played college 'soccer' in the US followed by pro stints across Europe.

With scouting today, it's almost impossible that a player will be so much of an unknown that it allows for something like this to happen. 'Making the Cut' from the early 00s is a hockey example (albeit quite scripted) - Dominic Noel got an invite to camp from the Leafs!

 

[Bluelines]

Ha! Ha! love that show...

 

[Bluelines]

Sign me up coach....

 

[VanW27]

This kind of happened with a show called "Making the Cut" in 2004. 68 players competed for 6 spots at canadian team training camps.

Even then most of those guys had some kind of junior or college hockey success prior to the show.

Came here to say this, one guy did make it to play 9 games for the Panthers - David Brine, but he was only weeks removed from a 100pt season in the QMJHL when the show started. Went on to have an ok AHL career before moving on to low level European Leagues.

Dominic Noel was the Leafs tryout winner for those interested, scored 105 pts in his last QMJHL season and was over a ppg in university hockey prior to the show. Went on to an ok ECHL run then bounced around low levels (France, Norway, Quebec Semi-pro).

 

[Confucius]

Many players make the NHL as undrafted players. The guy getting the latest start that I found was Joe Mullen. Learned to skate at age 10, didn't play on an organized team until he was 14. Although that was 50 years ago and even Mullen was undrafted.

 

[TheScandal89]

That's my puck baby, dont you ever touch my puck

 

[Warden of the North]

My grandfather says he distinctly remembers tryouts for the Leafs when he was young. You just went and did it

 

[Mess]

The closest example I can think of what your referring to is the reality TV series "Making the Cut". Similar to your American Idol idea of tryouts for want to be NHL players instead.

Making the Cut was a Canadian reality series that followed a group of amateur ice hockey players through a rigorous training session. The first season was broadcast on CBC Television in 2004. In 2006, the second season was moved to Global where its name was expanded to Making the Cut: Last Man Standing

Season 1
-------------
In the first season, 68 players participated in a grueling two-week training camp in Vernon, British Columbia to compete for one of six invitations to an NHL training camp, one for each Canadian team. Those 68 players were divided into two teams, "Team Blue" and "Team Gold". Former NHL coaches Mike Keenan and Scotty Bowman served as General Managers for this season, alongside a team of other hockey scouts and coaches. Scott Oake served as the host for this season.

The winners of that season were as follows:

Player	Hometown	NHL Team
Jordan Little	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Edmonton Oilers
James Demone	St. Albert, Alberta	Vancouver Canucks
Mike Mole	Moncton, New Brunswick .	Ottawa Senators
Matt Hubbauer	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Calgary Flames
Kevin Lavallée	Montreal, Quebec	Montreal Canadiens
Dominic Noël	Lamèque, New Brunswick .	Toronto Maple Leafs -

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Season 2
---------------
In the second season, one winner received a $250,000 endorsement contract and representation from a top NHL agent. During the second season, Mike Keenan returned as the lone General Manager of the series.

Franklin MacDonald of Nova Scotia was the winner of that season, and earned a contract with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League, playing three seasons with their American Hockey League affiliate at the time, the Rochester Americans. As of 2013, he was playing for EHC Black Wings Linz of the Austrian Hockey League.

David Brine became the first contestant from the series to make the NHL when he made his debut with the Panthers on February 2, 2008 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So he would be the answer to your Trivia question of has this ever happened : David Brine at eliteprospects.com

Link: Making the Cut: Last Man Standing - Wikipedia

PS. Matt Hubbauer did play in the Leafs system with St. Johns in 2004-05 .. 51 games 2 goals 6 assists 8 points (St. John's Maple Leafs at eliteprospects.com)