Maple Leafs Prospects

Brian Burke's stated goal for building his version of the Maple Leafs has been to start from the net out. Now questions abound about his success (or lack thereof) of solidifying the goaltending position, but it can't be ignored that Burke has added several goaltenders with

During Brian Burke's tenure as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he has been adamant in adding a player out of the power forward mould to his top six; someone with size, skill and scoring prowess, and if they happen to be a truculent sort, so be

One thing that any die-hard hockey fan who is self-aware of their own fandom will tell you that 99 times out of 100 they can't help but overvalue their own teams' prospects. It's not meant to be a slight, but it happens; you have a

via 2.bp.blogspot.com In several interviews and media appearances this season, Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has expressed his desire to add size and toughness to the forwards. By that statement Burke isn't talking about the Colton Orrs of the world; Burke's decision to

When I was younger I played junior hockey for a couple of seasons. Not at the OHL level, mind you, but a lower level. Junior C, mostly. My first season in junior hockey I split my time between two teams in different levels. While I enojoyed getting additional playing time

There's a point in the development of all prospects where the team has to assess whether the player is ready to take the next step forward and move up to a league where he will face a greater challenge. Sometimes the move is forced; a player finishes eligibility

Tyler Biggs has an uphill battle to earn the trust of the Maple Leafs faithful. At the 2011 Entry Draft, Brian Burke swapped the 30th pick in the draft (acquired from Boston in the Tomas Kaberle trade) and their own 2nd round pick (39th) to move up to 22nd in

Recent history of the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending has made one topic very common in our conversations; goaltending and save percentage. At this point, we have pretty well-defined what level of goaltending is required to be considered a competent NHL goaltender, how to correct for fluctuations over time to understand

Based on the reputation certain teams in the NHL have for scouting and drafting talent late in the draft, if you had to steal a European forward in a later round out from under one team, you'd probably want to be poaching the Detroit Red Wings. In the

From the 1994 Draft (when the league expanded to 26 teams) until the 2005 Draft (of which players are just turning 25), just 22.5% of all players selected in the 7th round have managed to play at least one game in the NHL. 12.5% of all players selected

via hogtownhockey.com One of the challenges with this exercise is weighing current accomplishments against future potential. When you have a collection of young players between the ages of 18 and 24, some still developing in amateur leagues, others transitioning from one professional league to another, it makes comparing apples

Becoming a professional hockey player takes tremendous amounts of skill, hard work, and luck. The first two are pretty obvious as to why they're important. But luck plays a huge factor. Playing for one team instead of another where you might be further down the depth chart. Having

As the youngest member of the Toronto Marlies... (checks Twitter feed). Damnit. As the youngest member of the Reading Royals of the ECHL, Kenny Ryan has spent much of the season watching and learning how to become a professional hockey player. There's probably a good debate to be

via blogs.pjstar.com Generally speaking, if you manage to get a dependable AHL defenceman out of your 5th round draft pick, that's probably a win for your scouting staff. Halfway through his third professional season in North America, Juraj Mikus is soldifying his spot on the Toronto

*This post is dedicated to leafer1984.* The first official member of our Top 25 is also no longer with the organization. Yesterday afternoon news broke that the Maple Leafs had send the winger to Anaheim in exchange for Nicolas Deschamps. Chemmy covered the transaction, which amounted to a swap of

Nazem Kadri, taken with the 7th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, is still young. However, that has not stopped speculation that the Leafs may have begun to approach the end of the line with Kadri: But more and more, it appears that there are serious concerns with whether

The other day, I did a break down of the comparison between Luke Schenn and Dion Phaneuf based largely on their play last season defensively. That discussion largely focused on which of those two should be "leading" the Leafs defensively, and really the results came out in a

The Toronto Maple Leafs have once again released a behind the scenes look at the 2011 NHL Draft in Minnesota. Brian Burke and Dave Morrison are the stars of the show as the team's approach to the draft is discussed and some of their picks are interviewed more

Yesterday we ran through the first four selections of the Leafs 2011 Draft, describing statistical comparables and running through some ideas of their potential. I may have come across as a tad harsh with respect to the Leafs first of two first round selections, Tyler Biggs. Before the angry e-mails

Ok, I know a lot of these draft picks are being analyzed from various perspectives around the Barilkosphere already. I'm also aware most of you may have already looked into some of this information. That being said, I'm going to attempt to do a bit of

With the 25th overall pick the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Stuart Percy from the Mississauga St. Mike's Majors. This is a great pick for me because I can go to see him play a lot. Just kidding, Leafs fans don't watch junior hockey. Stuart Percy grew

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded the 30th and 39th overall pick to Anaheim in order to move up to picked 22nd. They then used that pick to grab Tyler Biggs from the US National Team Development program. Biggs is, as "they" love to say, a "Brian Burke-type

The Toronto Maple Leafs, as of right now, still hold the 25th and 30th overall pick in tonight's entry draft in sunny Minnesota. I say as of right now because Brian Burke is eager to trade his magic beans for an established player and rip the headlines back

The Copper & Blue is one of the best hockey websites, "professional" or "amateur", that I read on a near daily basis especially because of the cantakerous chief Derek Zona. Today they have an interesting look at a player that the Leafs are surreptitiously scouting: Austrian

Matt Frattin has been announced as one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award which is awarded to the NCAA's top player. Here is their profile: Matt Frattin – University of North Dakota, Senior, Forward, Edmonton, Alberta Sometimes you need a second chance in life. Suspended by his