Leafs Prospect Update: January 8

by Blue Chip Prospects on January 8, 2013 in Prospect Updates - 391 Comments

The resolution to the NHL lockout combined with the commencement of the second half of the CHL season has predictably stirred up some player movement in the NHL’s development leagues.

As far as Leaf property, third round pick in 2011 Josh Leivo was traded to the Kitchener Rangers in a deal that saw the Sudbury Wolves move their top forward in Leivo, top defenceman in Frankie Corrado and starting goaltender Joel Vienneau in one swoop.

Leivo makes the move from a lacklustre Sudbury team to a Kitchener Rangers squad that has won despite struggling to score goals. Kitchener added former Peterborough Pete Matt Puempel in an attempt to shore up their offense headed into the season but Puempel hasn’t taken the next step that many expected, netting only 28 points in 27 games so far this year. Leivo instantly assumes the scoring lead on Kitchener (16 points ahead of Puempel) and there’s a very real chance that he’ll supplant Puempel on a line with Radek Faksa and Tobias Rieder.

One of my primary concerns with Leivo will be keeping himself out of Steve Spott’s doghouse. Under Spott, the Rangers have traditionally been one of the least penalized teams in the OHL and Leivo as an aggressive, powerforward-type can take some penalties from time to time. His production could vary dramatically if he were dropped to the second unit as there’s a pretty substantial gap between the scorers and non-scorers on this team. Recently, Leivo has seen an increase in his time on the penaltykill with somewhat mixed results but he does create a lot of chances there and could provide Kitchener with an interesting dynamic on their penaltykill if they choose to use him in that capacity.

If nothing else, Leivo’s on a team that should make a decent run in the OHL playoffs which is probably the best place for him to be from a developmental point of view. He’s unlikely to get the same amount of icetime that he was getting in Sudbury but he’ll be skating alongside a higher calibre of player which should help him round out his offensive game.

Toronto Marlies

The Toronto Marlies, meanwhile, are preparing for the loss of some of their key personnel to the Leafs. Matt Frattin and Ben Scrivens are the sure bets as of now (both are sitting and not risking injury tonight vs. the Bulldogs), while Kadri and a few others will receive invites to camp and could be lost for longer with impressive showings. Evident in their moves today was that the Marlies are anticipating the loss of at least one of their defencemen to the big leagues. Jake Gardiner will be with the Leafs when he’s back from injury and one of Korbinian Holzer, Mike Kostka or Mark Fraser could make the top seven.

The Marlies signed 21-year-old defenceman Ryan Grimshaw of the ECHL’s Trenton Titans and Cory Syvret, a 23-year-old defenceman and former Panthers draft pick who had been playing for the Alaskan Aces, to Pro Tryout Contracts. Grimshaw and Syvret were at the Marlies camp back in September. Mark Owuya was brought back to the AHL to back up the scorching hot Jussi Rynnas, who takes over the reigns for the Marlies.

Two big forwards also got the recall from the ECHL in 6’5 center Andrew Crescenzi and tough guy Jamie Devane.

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

Maple Leafs Goalie Prospect Stats

Name	Age	League	GP	W	L	SOL/OTL	SV%	GAA	SO
Jussi Rynnas	25	AHL - Marlies	21	10	9	1	.908	2.63	3
Mark Owuya	23	AHL - Marlies ECHL - Las Vegas ECHL - Reading	11 6 1	4 3 1	5 3 0	1 0 0	.883 .904 .964	3.22 2.97 1.00
Garret Sparks	19	OHL - Guelph OHL - Guelph (Playoffs)	60 5	36 1	17 4	4 -	.917 .920	2.65 3.05	7

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