FI Leafs Top Prospect Project - #5 Poll Thread

Appears that discussion his died down so let's get to the vote.

I did vote Johnson. Just a way more projectable skill set than Brown, with a similar (though lesser) professional scoring pedigree in a league that puts a much higher emphasis on high level skating.

Voted Johnson because of the ceiling argument. He's got a much higher potential level even though he might be a European-only type player.

JaysCyYoung said:

Voted Johnson because of the ceiling argument. He's got a much higher potential level even though he might be a European-only type player.

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From what I've seen of Brown, unless his skating takes a big leap forward, he's either a 2nd liner in the NHL or a career AHL'er. Not a whole lot of wiggle room for him....unless that skating comes a long way. He's apparently a really hard worker, so it's possible but at current it's hard to consider him as anything more than that.

I voted for Stuart Percy.

I feel he's got the best chance of being an everyday NHLer. We saw what he can do last season early on playing with Polak. Some of the others like Johnson and Brown to me have more question marks as to what role they will fill in the future where Percy has steady bottom 4 defender written all over him. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him steal a spot at camp.

Andreas Johnson gets my vote here.

There are other guys on the list that are more "sure-fire NHLers", like Percy, Harrington or Leipsic. But if we're ranking based on their high-end potential, I think it'd a pretty close choice between Connor Brown and Andreas Johnson. And out of those two, Johnson gets my vote. He seems to have better raw tools than Brown does, and his goal-scoring numbers last year and this year are pretty impressive for a 19/20 year-old in a league that doesn't often see players earn big offensive roles at that age.

I hope we see atleast one of these prospects exceed their potential. It would be nice to finally have a guy we drafted in the second or third round develop into an all star for us.

I see Percy having the type of game where he can move up and down the lineup depending on the matchup. Smart enough to play positional hockey on the PK while enough puckhandling to move the puck. I don't think he has all star potential but if he can improve on his skating to go along with his already good puckhandling skills we could see this guy in our top 4 eventually.

It'll be really interesting to see how the defense shakes up at training camp with Babcock running the team. Who rises to the occasion and who flops. I see Rielly - Phaneuf being our top pairing going into the start of the season. After that its anyones guess who takes the spots. Do we see Gardiner play up to his potential under Babcock? Or is he a guy we use as trade bait to improve our roster somewhere else if say a guy like Percy or Harrington or someone else steals a top 4 spot.

The defense is essentially the same as last season so it'll be a systems game to see whether or not this group can hack it. If our defense is shit like it was last year you have to figure personel will be moved out.

I expect a big year from Rielly. I figure the point production will be there but i really want to see this guy start taking on the big matchups with Phaneuf. I think we can see a solid complementary pairing between them. Move Phaneuf back to his more comfortable right side with Rielly being quick enough to cover for the stronger yet slower Phaneuf.

I voted Johnson. Would like to see Timashov on the next poll. See him as a breakout candidate.

Aberdeen said:

I voted Johnson. Would like to see Timashov on the next poll. See him as a breakout candidate.

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Then please make a case for him in the discussion thread. I only get 6 selections and I'm trying to include players being discussed, as well as those ranked in similar slots in other posted lists (PPP, Pronman, THW, HF etc). If they get mentioned in the discussion threads though, I definitely include them in the 6 selections I have available.

Gotta go with Brown, for the same reasons I preferred him over Bracco. I think it's silly for this Johnson wave to have now overtaken him.

I would even go with Leipsic over Johnson.

I voted for Dermott. I like Bracco way better than anyone left, and Hunter and co rank Dermott ahead of Bracco. Thats a stronger endorsement than anything I can think of for any of these guys.

I think you're over rating his age relative production tbh. His D+1 season (which is far, far more indicative of potential future upside than D+2) was just okay, and his AHL rookie season was good, but not exactly outstanding enough to make us not asking questions about his tools.

I actually prefer Leipsic to Brown personally. Nothing silly to not preferring this kid over Brown at all

[video=youtube;ci8NnCzZvgk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci8NnCzZvgk[/video]

Good speed, plus skating overall, heavy shot and obvious goal scoring instincts

leafman101 said:

I voted for Dermott. I like Bracco way better than anyone left, and Hunter and co rank Dermott ahead of Bracco. Thats a stronger endorsement than anything I can think of for any of these guys.

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Not enough track record for me yet. Though a half of a OHL season producing the way that a high upside defender typically would in D+1 (~1.0ppg) and he moves up my board a few spots. I've got him next after Johnson tbh.

leafman101 said:

I voted for Dermott. I like Bracco way better than anyone left, and Hunter and co rank Dermott ahead of Bracco. Thats a stronger endorsement than anything I can think of for any of these guys.

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Not enough track record for me yet. Though a half of a OHL season producing the way that a high upside defender typically would in D+1 (~1.0ppg) and he moves up my board a few spots. I've got him next after Johnson tbh.

Yeah I agree, there isn't much there for me to judge one way or the other. It is simply my respect for Hunter as a talent evaluater, and his knowledge of the OHL in particular. And that Dermott has to fit in here somewhere and I am not sure where I could put him based on the limited info available to me. Pure faith based vote.

leafman101 said:

Yeah I agree, there isn't much there for me to judge one way or the other. It is simply my respect for Hunter as a talent evaluater, and his knowledge of the OHL in particular. And that Dermott has to fit in here somewhere and I am not sure where I could put him based on the limited info available to me. Pure faith based vote.

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That's fair, I have a ton of respect for Hunter as a SME on junior hockey talent and that plays into my own opinion of Dermott. It gets tough for me because I don't get to see a kid like this a lot and I love utilizing stats trending, statistical comparables, minimum barriers for entry, etc as analysis tools and there's just not enough on Dermott for me to be comfortable with where I put him either. I wouldn't blame anyone for slotting him at the 4, just like I wouldn't blame anyone for slotting him at the 10-11 spots.

Why is Brown's name always italicized in the poll at the top?

LeafOfFaith said:

Why is Brown's name always italicized in the poll at the top?

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That's who you voted for.

leafman101 said:

I voted for Dermott. I like Bracco way better than anyone left, and Hunter and co rank Dermott ahead of Bracco. Thats a stronger endorsement than anything I can think of for any of these guys.

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leafman101 said:

Yeah I agree, there isn't much there for me to judge one way or the other. It is simply my respect for Hunter as a talent evaluater, and his knowledge of the OHL in particular. And that Dermott has to fit in here somewhere and I am not sure where I could put him based on the limited info available to me. Pure faith based vote.

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+1.


If the track record was enough for our scouting group to take Dermott over Bracco......it's enough for me to take Dermott over Brown & Johnson.

Agreed. I'd probably go with Dermott next. The fact that they traded down with really good options on the board, shows that (a) they wanted more picks, but more importantly, (b) were very comfortable waiting for Dermott. I voted Brown here but Dermott's probably next in line for me.