Leafs Prospect Updates: November 19

by Blue Chip Prospects on November 19, 2012 in Prospect Updates - 67 Comments

A slow start to the AHL year was probably the last thing Nazem Kadri needed.

Kadri is the most polarizing Leafs prospect in recent memory and at 22 has yet to stick as an NHL regular.  After spending the tail end of the summer training with fitness guru Gary Roberts, Kadri came to camp only to have his fitness criticized by head coach Dallas Eakins.  Cue the fan unrest.

Through nine games, Kadri had put up a very pedestrian 3 points (0G, 3A) and found himself on the healthy scratch list. The ‘Bust’ set were starting to get loud again.

One week later and Kadri is back to his old ways.  In his last 5 games, Kadri has put up 11 points (2G, 9A) and is now tied for 14th in AHL scoring after an abysmal start.  This production, while impressive, still has room for improvement as Kadri’s shooting percentage is sitting at 6.3% when he’s closer to a 15% shooter over a large sample.  I’ve maintained all year that Kadri has looked good in the games that I’ve seen him play and was taken by surprise when he was singled out for a benching (though I didn’t see the game that preceded it).

In February, I wrote a piece comparing Kadri’s production against other high picks from the 2008 and 2009 draft classes and the results may surprise some of the more anti-Kadri among you.  My opinion on Kadri is that he’s doing just fine and I genuinely feel that he’s deserving of a spot on the 2012-13 Leafs, if the league ever gets around to playing hockey.

Things in the CHL were a little uneventful this week.  Morgan Rielly was involved in the Subway Super Series and his Moose Jaw Warriors had a 9 day break between games (they’ll get back under way on Wednesday).  Josh Leivo picked up a pair of assists in yesterday’s game, including a beauty cross-crease number (I’ll tweet out the highlight pack if it comes available) and he continues to fire at a point-per-game clip on a bad Sudbury team.

Tyler Biggs and Stuart Percy faced off against each other last night in Oshawa with Percy coming out on the better end of the encounter.  Biggs started the game chasing Percy around the ice a little bit which I’m sure some people enjoyed but I found a little annoying.  One of my favourite things about Tyler Biggs is how he seldom takes himself out of position to make the big hit but for some reason last night it looked like he was trying to prove something to someone.

Percy ended the game with 3 assists, 2 on the powerplay and none of them spectacular, and played a prototypical Stuart Percy game.  He’s a good positional defender, he’s struck the right balance between physicality and finesse when dealing with opposing forwards, but he’s still far more apt to try and skate the puck out of the zone than to make a good, crisp breakout pass.

As always, if you’re on The Twitter and want to chat Leafs, prospects, or good books, you can catch me here.

Maple Leafs Prospect Regular Season Stats

Name	Age	League/Team	Position	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
		AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Joe Colborne	22	AHL - Marlies	Forward	65	14	28	42
Carter Ashton	21	AHL - Marlies	Forward	53	11	8	19
Jerry D'Amigo	21	AHL - Marlies	Forward	65	16	11	27
Greg McKegg	20	AHL - Marlies	Forward	55	7	14	21
Kenny Ryan	21	AHL - Marlies	Forward	53	9	11	20
Brad Ross	20	AHL - Marlies	Forward	34	7	2	9
David Broll	20	AHL - Marlies	Forward	1	0	0	0
Spencer Abbott	24	AHL - Marlies	Forward	51	11	19	30
Jesse Blacker	21	AHL - Marlies	Defenceman	57	4	7	11
Jake Gardiner(X)	22	AHL - Marlies	Defenceman	43	10	21	31
Simon Gysbers	25	AHL - Marlies	Defenceman	52	4	12	16
Morgan Rielly	19	AHL - Marlies	Defenceman	9	1	1	2
Stuart Percy	19	AHL - Marlies	Defenceman	1	1	0	1
Andrew MacWilliam	23	AHL - Marlies	Defenceman	-	-	-	-
Andrew Crescenzi	20	AHL - Marlies ECHL - San Francisco	Forward	15 23	1 3	1 11	2 14
Jamie Devane	21	AHL - Marlies ECHL - San Francisco	Forward	18 12	2 1	3 0	5 1
Tyler Brenner	24	ECHL - Bakersfield ECHL - Toledo	Forward	32 21	8 2	13 4	21 6
Sam Carrick	20	AHL - Marlies ECHL - Idaho	Forward	14 49	2 15	2 21	4 36
Tyler Biggs	19	AHL - Marlies	Forward	-	-	-	-
		CANADIAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Josh Leivo	19	OHL - Sudbury/Kitchener	Forward	63	29	44	73
Tyler Biggs	19	OHL - Oshawa	Forward	60	26	27	53
Connor Brown	18	OHL - Erie	Forward	63	28	41	69
Ryan Rupert	18	OHL - London	Forward	54	11	35	46
David Broll	19	OHL - Sault Ste. Marie	Forward	67	17	37	54
Stuart Percy	19	OHL - Mississauga	Defenceman	68	13	32	45
Matt Finn	18	OHL - Guelph	Defenceman	41	11	20	31
Morgan Rielly	18	WHL - Moose Jaw	Defenceman	60	12	42	54
		AMERICAN COLLEGE/JR HOCKEY
Tony Cameranesi	19	WCHA - Minnesota Duluth	Forward	38	14	20	34
Dominic Toninato	18	USHL - Fargo	Forward	62	29	41	70
Eric Knodel	22	NCAA - New Hampshire	Defenceman	38	10	11	21
Dennis Robertson	21	ECAC - Brown	Defenceman	36	3	17	20
Max Everson	19	ECAC - Harvard USHL - Omaha	Defenceman	7 16	0 1	2 4	2 5
Andrew MacWilliam	23	NCAA - North Dakota	Defenceman	41	2	11	13
		SWEDISH ICE HOCKEY
Petter Granberg	20	SEL - Skellefteå	Defenceman	13	0	0	0
Tom Nilsson	19	Allsvenskan - Mora	Defenceman	42	1	3	4
Viktor Loov	19	Allsvenskan - Södertälje	Defenceman	40	2	6	8

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