Maple Leafs Prospects Review
job improving their stable of prospects over the past few years and the improved
scouting, which is reflected in their improved standings in McKeen's Team Rankings.
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Despite not having any first round choices in the top ten since 1998, the Maple
Leafs have amassed a good crop of blue-chip prospects, using the picks they
have to make solid choices. General Manager, Pat Quinn, revamped the scouting
staff since the departure of former GM, Mike Smith, and the focus on safer choices
with high picks is paying off well.
Smith, now GM in Chicago chose two questionable picks with the 1998 and 1999
first round choices for the Maple Leafs. Nik Antropov and Luca Cereda, although
both stunted heavily by injuries, were both bold choices that appeared more
to be about making a splash at the draft than solidifying a severely depleted
prospect stable. Smith ignored Martin Havlat to pick Cereda in '99, attempting
to draft the first Swiss born player to reach the NHL who is not a goaltender.
Antropov was unknown by most, playing one season for Moscow Dynamo as a 4th
liner and prior to that growing up in a tiny Russian town near the China border.
While both may yet pan out as solid NHL players, neither were "safe"
choices for a team in desperate need of blue-chip up-and-commers. Antropov if
healthy will be a quality top six forward but was a very high risk choice on
draft day.
The Maple Leafs have significantly changed their drafting philosophy since
the Mike Smith era. In 2000, the team drafted Brad
Boyes, who was regarded as a very safe and quality choice. Boyes has
progressed steadily since then and has proven to be a winner throughout his
OHL career, carrying the Erie Otters to the Memorial Cup in 2002, and a silver
medal with Canada at the World Juniors, centering the top line for the country.
Boyes projects to become anywhere between an Andrew Cassells and a Steve Yzerman
at the NHL level someday.
Later round choices included Mikael Tellqvist, now with the St. John's Maple
Leafs of the AHL, Markus
Seikola and Alex
Shinkar, all three showing promise to make the NHL someday, Tellqvist
being the most likely to make a significant impact as a starting netminder.
In 2001, the Leafs continued to draft solid choices, taking Carlo
Colaiacovo with their first pick. Carlo's stock rose quickly after a
solid performance in the 2001 World Junior Championship and Memorial Cup, alongside
Brad Boyes. Carlo made the Leafs in his first pro camp this fall, only to be
sent down for lack of playing time when the NHL club started off the year poorly
and could not risk harming his progress in a less than ideal situation. Regardless
of the demotion, Carlo projects to be a quality two-way defender in very short
order.
The Leafs also made later round quality choices with 23-year-old, Karel Pilar,
who stepped into the NHL lineup near the end of the season and was a valuable
defender in the three playoff rounds in the absence of some key veteran defenders.
His play did not carry over as well to this season but he still projects to
be a solid #4 defender with particular impact on the power play. Brendan
Bell, Jay
Harrison and Max
Kondratiev were three defenders chosen who all project to be NHL'ers
down the line. Kyle
Wellwood was taken 134th overall and from there has been a major point
producer in the OHL and is performing at this year's World Junior Championship.
In 2002, the Leafs continued on their philosophy of making safe choices with
their early picks, drafting Alex
Steen, the son of former NHL'er, Thomas Steen. The elder Steen played
fourteen NHL seasons and was regarded as one of the more underrated players
of the 80's. He was a steady playmaker and a point-per-game player in his prime
years and regarded as a stand-up person with great character and poise. His
son is regarded to be along the same lines in terms of the type of player he
is and the type of leader both on and off the ice.
The addition of Barry Trapp, former Director of Scouting for the CCHA to the
Leaf scouting department paid immediate dividends in 2002. The ripple effect
of Trapp's knowledge on the draft choices last year were obvious. Matt
Stajan, Todd
Ford, Dominic
D'Amour and Ian
White were all regarded as excellent picks relative to their draft position.
Stajan and Ford project to have significant impact at the NHL level and were
highly underrated and ignored by many teams on draft day. Both are among league
leaders this season and Stajan is making his mark with Canada at this year's
World Junior tourney. Ian White, a power play specialist is more of a longshot
to reach the NHL because of his size and awareness for a defensemen but if he
is ever able to overcome those faults, the Leafs have an extremely dangerous
power play man on their hands.
Overall, the Leafs are ranked roughly in the middle of the pack for NHL teams
in our 02-03 rankings but considering their draft position in the last three
years, they have done quite well with what they have had to work with. Other
teams like the Canucks,
and Blues
have dropped to the bottom of the pile with similar picks in their stockpile
the last few years yet none have been able to climb the ranks like the Leafs
have. The one thing lacking in the Leaf prospect depth chart are a bonified
franchise player or two, but there are not many NHL teams out there who can
boast that right now.