Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Standouts from the Prospect Challenge

I love the prospect tournaments that lead into the pre-season. I'm a prospect guy, I can't help it. It's fun to see guys together when they're generally scattered through the hockey world, and in different stages of their development.

It's a good way to see what guys have made noteworthy improvements over the summer, and who seems poised for a potential breakout in the upcoming season. On the other side, it's a good opportunity to identify issues that need to be worked on, that may only be exposed playing against better competition – especially for guys coming from regular junior leagues that have never played in bigger international, all-star, or top prospect games and tournaments.

GAME ONE THOUGHTS

General thoughts is that the Baby Leafs' roster was pretty outclassed by the Baby Sens roster for most of the game. The biggest problem I saw from Toronto was their difficulty moving the puck – there were a lot of turnovers in the first two periods. There were definitely some more noteworthy culprits in that regard from what I could tell, but for the first half of the game it was more of a full team issue.

The negative standouts for me were definitely Valis, who had a real rough start and never really recovered, the Smith-Sharpe pairing who were pretty bad the whole game, and Hlacar and Pharand on the fourth line (not that I was expecting a lot from them to begin with).

Getting to specifics, here are my standouts from the first game:

Ben Danford (and Noah Chadwick)

Easily, the biggest standout for me was Ben Danford. He was solid for the full game. His mobility and kill playing was obvious from start to finish, but the most surprising was just how well he was moving the puck. He made 2-3 really nice stretch passes to create chances off the rush, and his first passes in his own end rarely (if ever, I can't actually remember one) turned into a turnover.

I'll give a small shoutout to his primary partner, Noah Chadwick. He also was very good moving the puck up the ice, though his defense didn't stand out in a positive or negative way. The one negative thing that stood out was his lack of foot speed, but that's a known thing that may just never go away.

Luke Haymes (and Braeden Kressler)

The most consistently good line in the game was definitely the second line, centred by Haymes. He was just solid and excellent in all three zones. He supported the defense, he was responsible with the puck in the neutral zone on transitions, and he was a good driver of offense at even strength and with the man advantage. He had a goal and primary assist, and was creating dangerous chances for himself or a teammate when the team couldn't score or generate much offense earlier in the game.

Barbolini worked well with him as an older, wise AHL veteran but he wasn't really a big positive. It was more that he just knew what to do and where to be. Kressler, on the other hand, is showing how he earned an ELC back in the day. He's just smart, does the little things really well and consistently makes good decisions. He has a bit of a dog in him too. I wish I could take that smarts and decision making and give that to Cowan with his more gifted physical tools and offensive instincts, that combination would make him a star.

Top Line in the Third Period

The top line with Quillan and Cowan struggled for the most part for two periods. While there was a factor beyond their control that didn't help, they also were not doing great. Turnovers caused them to be on defense a lot, and they couldn't get much sustained offensive pressure going. Then in the third period the coach mixed up the lines, when Valis was either benched or injured, with Kirwan and Holinka. Suddenly, they could get some things going.

Valis was a pretty big disappointment. He was consistently turning the puck over, one which turned directly into the second goal. He was killing their offense and breakouts. He got less bad in the second, but was still dragging them down. I don't know if he was injured or not, but I noticed one shift from him to start the third period and then never saw (or noticed) him again.

Ryan Kirwan

I came in hoping to be pleased by what I saw out of Kirwan, and I think I got that. He wasn't super amazing, but I think he was clearly better than almost all of the OHL forwards. I think he helped Hopkins a lot on that third line, and worked well with Sim too. When he got a bigger chance to play on the top line he worked well with them too. I don't think he's a big play driver, but he helped provide the supporting skills that complemented Cowan and Quillan and showed he had the offensive skills to finish (or help finish) scoring chances with two primary points.

Tyler Hopkins and Miroslav Holinka

Hopkins and Holinka are both similar kinds of players as two way centres who were playing in the bottom six, and did pretty well considering they are relatively young.

Considering just how young Hopkins was, I thought he did well. He had a couple of good chances, he was pretty effective defensively (he definitely needs to put on some muscle), and he made some real nice plays in his own end to move the puck up the ice when the team was struggling to do exactly that.

Holinka was working uphill all game. His linemates were Hlacar and Pharand, and neither were noticeable in a positive way. Holinka, however, managed to generate a few good chances and do his usual reliable defensive work. He looked even better when he got double shifted/bumped up to the top line to fill in at times for the missing Valis. He wasn't a huge standout, but I thought he was doing well for the opportunities he was given that game.

Artur Akhtyamov (sort of)

Hard to say he was a great success when he gave up four goals, but in terms of both shot totals and quality scoring chances, Ottawa were the much better team overall in the game. His team was killing him to start the game with the turnovers, but he did settle down and make some big saves as they tried to claw back on the scoreboard.

Not much to say for a goalie after one game. Could have been better, could have been worse, but I'll say I think he was the only guy preventing the game from being more like 6-0 before Toronto got their first goal.

GAME TWO THOUGHTS

It was another game where Toronto spent more time in their own end than not, but they wound up with a much better result. That's partly because they cleaned up some of the messiness and turnovers that plagued them the first game, and partly because the players they had come in did a better job than the ones going out at playing clean and safe.

It was also a much, much more physical game. Montreal was definitely a bigger team in aggregate, and they were throwing a lot of big hits and causing some scrums. Toronto gave back as good as they got more often than not, but you could definitely see them make some panic passes.

The negative standouts... I'll say Parsons, he was pretty good at times but chased a lot of hits and took two penalties. Sharpe was better this game but still not really impressive to me. Takes too many big blasts from the point and kinda kills the offense, and his defense didn't seem like anything special. McCue is a guy I was pretty disappointed with. Against this level of competition he stood out the most as out of his depth, especially with his skating that seems more of a glaring issue at this point.

Before I get to the main standouts, I'll give an honourary mention to Landon Sim for being a pleasant surprise, mostly because I was expecting basically nothing but he looks like he gets his role and knows how to grind.

Other than that, let's get to the standouts.

Vyacheslav Peksa

The clear best player on the ice for both teams was Peksa, who was solid from start to finish. Only a bad turnover and clear rush chance finally beat him, but he made some darn good saves, scrambled well when he had to, but looked composed and in control. Maybe this will be a breakout year for him in the ECHL, with maybe some AHL games (depending on health and callups above him).

Owen Conrad

I won't say that Conrad was the best defenseman in the game for Toronto, but I don't think he was far from it. He got more time as the game went on. He was used on the PK multiple times. He was on the ice defending the lead late in the game. His defense was solid, if unspectacular. He moved the puck mostly well, better than a lot of the big defensive defensemen in this game, and he was on the younger side and the same age as Fellinger, but his overall defense, mobility and puck movement looked like it was at a higher level. He even got an assist from his point shot, leading to the 3-1 goal.

To me, he seemed like Danford-lite. Not as good a skater, not as high end on his defense, but his puck movement is at worst the same and maybe a bit better from what I could tell (albeit in one game). He just seems like a solid, reliable defenseman who does all the things I want defensemen to be able to do quite well. And at his age, with room for improvement.

I know that he doesn't have the luxury of being a draft pick who doesn't need to be signed to an ELC now. Nor can he be given an AHL contract. It's ELC or nothing, and Toronto is at 45/50 contracts. There will be some guys they want to move, and one or two they still want to sign, so if they wind up with 5-6 contract spots available by the time the season starts... why not give him an ELC? I'll trust the Leafs staff to make the call or not. If they go for it, I can say I see the reasons why. If not, I'll assume they didn't see him at a good enough level to warrant one right now, but they can keep tabs on him this year for next year's draft.

Ben Danford

At times, looked much the same as the first game. Solid defensively, mobility having him all over the ice, killing plays and moving the puck up well. He was even given some powerplay time! But he was less consistent at that level in this game, with the turnover that led to the one goal and another pretty bad one in the third period. He did take some big hits, so I don't blame him for being a bit more casual once the physical intensity was ramping up in a meaningless exhibition, but how he makes plays with the puck when he's dealing with that pressure is the biggest area of growth he will be working on.

Noah Chadwick

Honestly, I know I'm not the highest on Chadwick. More due to uncertainty than from not liking him. But he did well in this game. Again, not spectacular, but playing next to a guy like Parsons he did well moving the puck, being responsible and dealing with that same physical forechecking pressure better than Danford did. I'll take it as a good sign that he's more prepared to deal with the AHL than I had been worried about, but it remains to be seen how well that will hold up in a larger set of games and full rosters of AHL quality players.

Jacob Quillan, Luke Haymes & Ryan Kirwan

The trio of college boys that will be on the Marlies this year were all, in their own way, solid but unspectacular. Quillan got the primary assist on the 3-1 goal, Haymes had a goal and an assist for the second game in a row, and so did Kirwan who was just a consummate pro player all game – he scored the first goal and set up the empty netter to seal the game. They'll provide valuable depth in the lineup for the Marlies this year, behind their established veterans like Shaw, Boyd and Nylander, and to insulate the young kids like Cowan, Valis and Sim.

Miroslav Holinka

Holinka impresses me more and more. He is cut from the same cloth as the three AHL guys I mentioned above, but a bit younger at this point. He can be your reliable defensive centre, but he can pitch in on offense. At this point, they have so many players of his type but I think he is versatile enough with his skills that he may make sense as a winger long term, so he can focus on using his offensive skill more. I'm expecting a bigger year from him this season in the WHL, and honestly I think he could stick in the AHL even this year. There's no reason to, though, and he won't be hurt by being in junior this season.

Ryan Tverberg

Tverberg is a guy I liked a good deal in the past, but he's just had some bad injury luck to limit him to only 46 games in each of the past two seasons. His last year was more rough as far as his performance and point production, but this game showed what drives his game. He's speedy, tenacious, can kill penalties, and pitch in on offense. He may not ever be an NHLer, but he seems like he could be a career AHL guy at a pretty high level there.

Tyler Hopkins and Harry Nansi

Two of the younger, least experienced players on either team, they both impressed me in a similar manner as Conrad did. They were not the best players on the ice (though I thought Nansi was maybe their best forward in the first period). Considering their age and where they are in their development, I'll steal what Cathy said in the comments: it's impressive that they look like they can play at that level, when it's not even their level yet. They make good decisions, they move the puck well, and they make good plays.

Nansi especially was very validating to see be so impactful on the ice. He just makes good plays, and I think the fact that he's already so good when there are also so many areas of improvement in his game makes him such a wild card as a project. He could turn into something more special than you'd expect from a later pick, but even if he doesn't I can still a useful depth guy in the NHL in the distant future. He actually had the primary assist on the first goal.

And that's it for another year of the prospect tournament! This year was pretty fun, I have to say. There were no huge standouts, no big or flashy stars that stole my heart, but there were a lot of guys who just looked really solid at a pretty high level.

So what are your thoughts? Let us know who stood out to you the most in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!