FI Leafs Top Prospect Project - #3 Poll Thread

No new discussion points in a while, so may as well move on to the voting.

I voted Kapanen. I really like Bracco though, I think he's 4 for me.

Yeah, Brown/Bracco is going to be a really interesting discussion for me. I lean Brown, but I'm open to Bracco being the 4 as well.

I'd love to hear the argument for Stuart Percy coming in at #3

A protest vote for Harrington?

Percy had a strange season - dynamite off the block and not out of place in NHL action. He gets squeezed out by the numbers game in the NHL and goes down to the AHL - where he was rock solid the year before and put up decent numbers for a 20 year old rookie - and has a total dud of a season.

Tough to peg where he's at. He looked like a really good prospect early on (maybe not top 3 quality but, imo, in the discussion amongst most team's top 5 prospects).

With that said, I'm his biggest booster here and he wouldn't crack the top three (or, in my opinion, the top 5).

(that said, I'm still convinced he's going to be a solid d-man in this league).

I have a hard time putting Percy above Harrington at this point in his development and he has pretty much zero separation from Loov as well....which doesn't make him a bad prospect, just a limited one. I don't think I'd start considering him until we're in the 7-8 range.

MindzEye said:

I have a hard time putting Percy above Harrington at this point in his development and he has pretty much zero separation from Loov as well....which doesn't make him a bad prospect, just a limited one. I don't think I'd start considering him until we're in the 7-8 range.

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I don't have a hard time putting him above Harrington. Percy's a strong skater and he can move the puck quickly and accurately. I know his advanced numbers in limited action look bad (and Harrington's, by comparison, are much better); their qualcomps were about the same, but look at the zone starts - 61% in the offensive zone for Harrington and 33.7% for Percy. That's crazy usage of a young defenseman. Especially since his six final games were scattered over several weeks and in at least a few cases, he was playing as a 7th defenseman.

Their pro numbers so far are similar, but my understanding is the knock on Harrington is his skating. Also, Percy put up some pretty solid seasons over his final two years of junior; Harrington never showed much offense (and, in fact, his rookie production in the AHL may be an outlier).

Percy comes out on top there, imo.

Loov... I think is a quality prospect and probably comparable to Percy.

Some of the shine has certainly worn of Percy, but the way he skates and moves the puck still leaves him with good upside. He'll likely never be a big offensive contributor, but I can see the argument for him after the top 5 which is pretty much locked in (Nylander, Kapanen, Marner, Bracco and Brown - Dermott may be in there too I just don't know enough about him at this point).

Loov is also a really intriguing prospect. Neither guy will light it up, but defensemen that can skate, and do it with the puck, will always be useful.

mbow30 said:

Percy had a strange season - dynamite off the block and not out of place in NHL action. He gets squeezed out by the numbers game in the NHL and goes down to the AHL - where he was rock solid the year before and put up decent numbers for a 20 year old rookie - and has a total dud of a season.

Tough to peg where he's at. He looked like a really good prospect early on (maybe not top 3 quality but, imo, in the discussion amongst most team's top 5 prospects).

With that said, I'm his biggest booster here and he wouldn't crack the top three (or, in my opinion, the top 5).

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CAught a Dubas interview on radio the other day, and he was talking about Percy. Interestingly, he said Percy's dud season was a direct result of "bad development decision" (under Carlyle + Nonis, I suppose he meant). He said Percy should never have been called up, and he also should not have been sent down that easily after he was called up.

Said he doesn't believe in putting a young prospect in the NHL lineup unless he's sure he is ready, which Percy was not in his opinion. Once here, said he didn't get the development and care he needed, also said he was then put in the press box for way too long when he began to struggle, and when he was finally sent back down to AHL he was 'cold'. Then he sustained 2 injuries and it killed his season.

He also said a lot of good things about Percy, said this season is NOT a 'make or break' season for Percy. Even if he doesn't make the NHL roster out of training camp, he said Percy still has time to develop his game in the AHL.