Every year, we draft a bunch of kids, and every year most of those kids (selected outside of the first round) are often listed towards the back half of our prospect rankings. Then, every year - one or two take eye opening, huge development strides in their draft +1 year, skyrocketing them up the rankings. (See: Connor Brown, Andreas Johnson, Victor Loov)
Who will it be this year?
#34 - Travis Dermott - a very intelligent, potentially top 4 D
#61 - Jeremy Bracco - don't let the size fool you, a solid 190lbs at 18, and elite level talent!
#65 - Andrew Nielsen - Big, western defender - intriguing potential
#68 - Martins Dzierkals - could this be a Grabovski on the wing?
#95 - Jesper Lindgren - Bergman strikes again ... and much earlier!
#125 - Dmytro Timashov - Dynamic winger who just needs some size.
#155 - Stephen Desrocher - Solid, all round player with a Mem Cup under his belt.
#185 - Nikita Korostelev - Struggled with consistency, but potentially first round talent in the seventh round!
Personally - I think Korostelev will take a big step forward. He apparently relented to the pressure of his draft year, but with the Leafs 'Sports Science' department behind him, and the desire to prove 29 teams screwed up - he could take a significant step forward.