2016-17 Marlies Talk: New Season, Continued Expectations

[Highlander]

I guess I am most interested to see how Gauthier, Sparks, Timashov, Neilson do more than the rest. and Kapanen. I take it from what Babcock said that Soshinkov will be with the Leafs when he is better

[Kaberle15]

I guess I am most interested to see how Gauthier, Sparks, Timashov, Neilson do more than the rest. and Kapanen. I take it from what Babcock said that Soshinkov will be with the Leafs when he is better

Kapenen and Gauthier had decent camps with the Leafs...

[Highlander]

Ya Freddie looked good and i would have liked to see him on the Leafs but he will get a lot more time to play and develop with the Marlies, and no space for Kapanen as yet.  I also though Sparks played well.
Timashov definetly needs some development time.
Also very excited about Neilson (he could develop into something very good). not so excited about Dermott but we have time on our side.

[TBLeafer]

The game is on LeafsTV for anyone interested.  Started at 1:00.

Marlies up 2-0 after 1 on PP goals by Sosh and Nielsen.

Sparks in goal.

[herman]

Marlies are 2-0 to start their season with a roster that looks pretty OP for the AHL, loaded with on-the-cusp-of-the-NHL-level players (and vets that have fallen off the Leaf roster).

Leading the charge this year (so far in this small sample size) are the kids. Kapanen and Leipsic sporting 5 pts (1G/4A both) in two games, Johnsson potting 3 PP goals himself (50% of the Marlie PP goals, and infinitely more than the Leafs), Nielsen, Dermott, and Timashov all potting their first AHL points.

Nielsen's first pro goal, and first Marlie goal of the season: https://streamable.com/rnzk
Kapanen's first goal of the season: https://streamable.com/qf44
Kapanen feeds Timashov: https://streamable.com/rlmd

Videos courtesy of redditors on /r/leafs

[RedLeaf]

I personally think all the newfound success, (I realize it's still early in the game) can be directly attributed to Mark Hunter and his ability to scout out these great up and coming players for the organization. More than I can recall with past administrations, , there just seems to be more hits than misses at the last few drafts he's run.

[herman]

I'm super excited about our prospects, but a couple of caveats:
a) This is early goings still and a very, very small sample size. They're trending in positive directions though.
b) As much credit as we can give to Hunter, there wasn't exactly a high hurdle to compare him to before
c) Scouting only takes you so far. I'd like to give credit to the development staff as well. No longer does the team just draft and hope players figure it out by playing, but there are concentrated efforts to help individuals develop their games (and off-ice lifestyles) to their fullest potential

[RedLeaf]

I'm super excited about our prospects, but a couple of caveats:
a) This is early goings still and a very, very small sample size. They're trending in positive directions though.
b) As much credit as we can give to Hunter, there wasn't exactly a high hurdle to compare him to before
c) Scouting only takes you so far. I'd like to give credit to the development staff as well. No longer does the team just draft and hope players figure it out by playing, but there are concentrated efforts to help individuals develop their games (and off-ice lifestyles) to their fullest potential

I can agree with that Herman. And like I said, it is still early, but the early results have certainly been promising. It's been a long, long time since we've seen this organization run with this much professionalism, across the board. I'd be lying if I said its been easy to hide my enthusiasm with what Shanahan has done and is still doing since he became president. Add some much needed luck with the lottery draft win, and this team is finally beginning its ascent back up the ladder and into respectability again. The only question in my mind now is, how much longer will it take?

[Nik Bethune]

Seems pretty unlikely that Hunter played a huge role in scouting Leipsic, Kapanen or Johnsson.

[bustaheims]

No longer does the team just draft and hope players figure it out by playing, but there are concentrated efforts to help individuals develop their games (and off-ice lifestyles) to their fullest potential

In addition to that, in the past, they seemed to try to apply a "one size fits all" approach to their secondary prospects (ie. guys they didn't draft early in the 1st round). The new group seems to much more adept at creating more targeted development game plans to address the specific needs of each prospect.

[Zee]

I thought Leipsic would make the Leafs this season.  He didn't look out of place in limited games last year so I was surprised when he went back to the Marlies.  Hopefully we see him and Soshnikov soon.   Any injury update on Soshnikov?

[herman]

I thought Leipsic would make the Leafs this season.  He didn't look out of place in limited games last year so I was surprised when he went back to the Marlies.  Hopefully we see him and Soshnikov soon.   Any injury update on Soshnikov?

Sosh played one of the Comets games on Gauthier's line and got a PP goal, so I think he's okay now. There have been notes about Soshnikov overworking himself off ice leading to the injury, so letting him work on some stuff with the Marlies and build up his body is not the worst thing. I have him slotted over Martin and Hyman (skill-wise) and Leivo and would love to see him with Kadri again but we have plenty of time to be patient.

[Nik Bethune]

I thought Leipsic would make the Leafs this season.  He didn't look out of place in limited games last year so I was surprised when he went back to the Marlies.  Hopefully we see him and Soshnikov soon.   Any injury update on Soshnikov?

Sosh played one of the Comets games on Gauthier's line and got a PP goal, so I think he's okay now. There have been notes about Soshnikov overworking himself off ice leading to the injury, so letting him work on some stuff with the Marlies and build up his body is not the worst thing. I have him slotted over Martin and Hyman (skill-wise) and Leivo and would love to see him with Kadri again but we have plenty of time to be patient.

We also have to accept that the only guy in the top 9 we can say with any certainty won't be around long term is Michalek. There's just not a lot of ice time available as it stands.

[herman]

We also have to accept that the only guy in the top 9 we can say with any certainty won't be around long term is Michalek. There's just not a lot of ice time available as it stands.

The next season, we could be dropping Komarov, Bozak, JvR (maaaybe?) by the deadline as well. I don't think they're going to make any decisions on these guys until then, or a compelling offer lands on the table.

Leipsic's contract is up after this season, as well as his waiver eligibility. This is basically his make or break season. Soshnikov, Lindberg, Gauthier, and Kapanen have a bit more runway in line with the aforementioned NHL top-9 departures.

What gives me a bit more comfort with that than usual is this management team showed they were willing to dump decent short term vets for youth with promise. Lamoriello's comments indicated that this might have been a special case scenario this season, however as we're still on the tail end of the teardown overlapping with the building phase.

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I thought Leipsic would make the Leafs this season.  He didn't look out of place in limited games last year so I was surprised when he went back to the Marlies.  Hopefully we see him and Soshnikov soon.   Any injury update on Soshnikov?

Sosh played one of the Comets games on Gauthier's line and got a PP goal, so I think he's okay now. There have been notes about Soshnikov overworking himself off ice leading to the injury, so letting him work on some stuff with the Marlies and build up his body is not the worst thing. I have him slotted over Martin and Hyman (skill-wise) and Leivo and would love to see him with Kadri again but we have plenty of time to be patient.

We also have to accept that the only guy in the top 9 we can say with any certainty won't be around long term is Michalek. There's just not a lot of ice time available as it stands.

Yup, rather than reach a tipping point next year with waivers, I wonder if they try and turn four quarters into a dollar at some point.

I think we are going to see Andreas Johnsson very soon, I think he's better than the AHL already.