Maple Leafs Prospect Update: November 10th, 2014

The thing about prospect talk is that it’s generally most interesting when your team is playing its worst hockey.

We don’t talk about prospects because we love the Moose Jaw Warriors, or the Sudbury Wolves, or the Erie Otters — we talk about prospects because we love the Leafs but the Leafs are a bad hockey team.  Well, the Maple Leafs have won two games in two nights so if we’re going to talk prospects, it had better be something groundbreaking, right?

How’s this:  William Nylander is on pace to do something that neither Peter Forsberg, nor Mats Sundin, nor either Sedin has done — score a point per game in the Swedish Hockey League in his draft+1 year.

Nylander has 11 points through 8 games to start the year with MODO and while there’s a lot of season left to go, it’s awfully tough not to be captivated by the promise of the young Swede.  If you start watching this clip at the 1:42 mark, you’ll probably get the sense that Nylander’s shot is already NHL-level.  You’ll also notice that his skating will be an asset when he crosses the pond.  The question with Nylander, as it was with Kadri, will have everything to do with size and strength.  In the pre-season, it was pretty clear that he wasn’t strong enough for the NHL yet and heading back to Sweden where there’s less emphasis on physicality may have been a better decision than asking the slight center to play in the AHL.  Ice time may have been a concern when Nylander was first sent back to MODO, but he’s played over 19-minutes a night to start the year which has put those concerns to bed.  It’s early, but we may be witnessing the beginning of something pretty unprecedented.

Another 2014 draft pick who’s been making some noise is Kootenay Ice defenseman Rinat Valiev.  The Russian defenseman was 2nd among ice defensemen in points last season and has picked up right where he left off with an impressive 8 points in 7 games to start the year in the WHL.  Valiev is leading the Ice defense in scoring despite having played in only 7 of the team’s 19 games to start the year.  Valiev also brings a physical presence that we haven’t seen from many of the Leafs‘ defensive prospects of late — only Loov brings a similar level of nastiness.  There’s a pretty strong chance we see Valiev at the World Junior’s this year and he has been named to the Russian roster in the Subway Super Series, if you’re hoping to get a look at him.

It can’t all be good news, but I’ll let the chart tell the tale of the disappointments thus far, with Gauthier and Verhaeghe’s production being among the leading candidates.

Until next time, folks.

Maple Leafs Prospect Statistics - 2014-15

Last Update: Thursday, April 2.

Name	Draft	Round	Height	Weight	Age	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	SOG
FORWARDS
JAMIE DEVANE	2009	3	6' 5"	217	23	Marlies	AHL	39	0	2	2	-4	19
BRAD ROSS	2010	2	6' 0"	175	22	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	31 7	4 3	4 3	8 6	0 4	45 17
GREG MCKEGG	2010	3	6' 0"	191	22	Marlies	AHL	31	8	10	18	-1	75
SAM CARRICK	2010	5	6' 0"	188	22	Marlies	AHL	35	3	14	17	-12	69
TYLER BIGGS	2011	5	6' 2"	205	21	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	35 8	2 4	2 2	4 6	-1 1	50 21
JOSH LEIVO	2011	3	6'2"	195	21	Marlies	AHL	21	4	9	13	3	56
TONY CAMERANESI	2011	5	5' 9"	162	21	U of Min-Duluth	NCAA	23	6	13	19	6
DAVID BROLL	2011	6	6' 2"	216	21	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	21 14	0 1	0 7	0 8	-8 -2	33 30
DOMINIC TONINATO	2012	5	6' 1"	165	20	U of Min-Duluth	NCAA	24	14	8	22	16
CONNOR BROWN	2012	6	5' 11"	160	20	Marlies	AHL	43	12	21	33	10	84
RYAN RUPERT	2012	6	5' 8"	186	20	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	25 17	5 5	7 9	12 14	11 7	39 32
FREDERIK GAUTHIER	2013	1	6' 5"	214	19	Rimouski	QMJHL	23	13	12	15	22
CARTER VERHAEGHE	2013	3	6' 1"	181	19	Niagara	OHL	48	20	33	53	8
FABRICE HERZOG	2013	5	6' 2"	176	19	Zug	Swiss NLA	37	6	2	8	4
ANDREAS JOHNSON	2013	7	5' 10"	183	19	Frolunda	SHL	43	18	10	28	9
WILLIAM NYLANDER	2014	1	5'11	174	18	Modo Marlies	SHL AHL	21 4	8 1	12 1	20 2	3 0
J.J. PICCINICH	2014	4	6'0"	190	18	Boston U	NCAA H-East	18	1	1	2	-3
DAKOTA JOSHUA	2014	5	6'2"	182	18	Sioux Falls	USHL	32	11	16	27	-6
NOLAN VESEY	2014	6	6'1"	195	19	U of Maine	NCAA H East	25	6	9	15	1
PIERRE ENGVALL	2014	7	6'3"	190	18	Frolunda J20	SuperElit	22	9	14	23	-8
PATRICK WATLING	AHL	Signing	6'0"	173	21	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	27 8	2 4	1 4	3 8	2 4	18 11
BRETT FINDLAY	AHL	Signing	6'0"	189	21	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	13 20	1 9	2 9	3 18	-6 4	14 60
STEFAN DELLA ROVERE	AHL	Signing	5'11"	200	24	Solar Bears	ECHL	25	9	5	14	4	47
DEFENCEMEN
NAME	Draft	Round	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	AGE	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	SOG
ANDREW MACWILLIAM	2008	7	6'2"	226	25	Marlies	AHL	39	1	2	3	11	28
ERIC KNODEL	2009	5	6' 6"	216	24	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	11 18	0 2	5 2	5 4	0 7	15 20
PETTER GRANBERG	2010	4	6' 3"	200	22	Marlies Leafs	AHL NHL	28 3	1 0	6 0	7 0	0 0	15 1
TOM NILSSON	2011	4	6'0"	180	21	Marlies	AHL	36	1	5	6	2	27
MATTHEW FINN	2012	2	6' 0"	199	20	Marlies	AHL	21	1	1	2	-1	28
VIKTOR LOOV	2012	7	6'3"	200	22	Marlies	AHL	42	3	9	12	1	49
RINAT VALIEV	2014	3	6'2"	208	19	Kootenay	WHL	28	6	23	29	15
BLAKE KESSEL	AHL	Signing	6'2"	210	25	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	3 32	0 4	1 11	1 15	1 -8	3 67
GOALIES
NAME	Draft	Round	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	AGE	Team	League	GPI	Record	GAA	SV%	SO
CHRISTOPHER GIBSON	FA	Signing	6' 1"	188	22	Marlies	AHL	22	9-10-0	2.56	.918	1
GARRET SPARKS	2011	7	6' 2"	200	21	Marlies Solar Bears	AHL ECHL	2 17	1-0-0 9-3-1	1.00 2.71	.966 .929	1 2
ANTOINE BIBEAU	2013	6	6' 3"	207	20	Marlies	AHL	19	8-7-0	2.64	.918	4