You make very good points about opportunity here: Brown played with Nylander a fair amount the year he put up lots of points in the AHL- but, Nylander only played half of that season so its not like he was riding shotgun all year with him. He still did very well that season while away from Nylander.
Kapanen also played 1st line AHL minutes, where Timashov and Bracco have been farther down the depth chart in the AHL so far- and that's probably deserved since they aren't as good as those other guys yet.
Next year will be very curious on the Marlies side. All the higher end razzle dazzle are Leafs now (Nylander, Brown, Dermott, Kapanen, Johnsson), so it'll be down to Bracco, Timashov, Brooks, Grundstrom, Liljegren, and Engvall + new adds (probably Dzierkals) to see if we can still be an upper tier team. One of the things that Lou and Babcock preached that Dubas took to heart was putting prospects through competitive situations (e.g. Calder Cup playoffs) rather than solely focusing on skills development.
It's a bit too bad that Korshkov isn't coming over this season (more money in the KHL. There'll be a bump of Russians the year after though with Korshkov, Chebykin, and maybe Bobylev and Kara making the jump to the Marlies.
This was the lineup for Game 7 of the Calder Cup:
Johnsson - Aaltonen - Grundstrom
Timashov - Mueller - Smith
Engvall - Gauthier - Greening
Marchment - Brooks - Moore
Marincin - Holl
Rosen - LoVerde
Nielsen - Liljegren
Sparks
So lets assume Johnsson, Sparks, and Dermott are up with the Leafs. Ben Smith has already signed to play in Europe.
Almost everyone else is under team control unless the Leafs don't want to sign said player to a NHL contract. (ie AHL Contract only requires renouncing rights and hoping we don't lose them). This includes: Aaltonen, Gauthier, Marincin, Holl
Considering our depth at C in the organization, I highly doubt Aaltonen and Gauthier don't get NHL contracts. Holl will also get one. Marincin should also garner a NHL contract, although I'd doubt he passes through waivers. Another NHL team should take a flyer on him- but lets say he passes through.
We've also added Lindholm and Ohzighanov to the mix.
As of right now, there are only a few NHL jobs up for grabs (2-3 forwards, 1-2 depth defensman) so a lot of the names mentioned will be back with the Marlies.
I doubt they won't be a upper tier team. Not saying they will repeat as champs, but I don't doubt they'll be one of the better teams in the AHL again.
My Projected Leafs with a potato GM:
Johnsson - Matthews - Kapanen
Marleau - Kadri - Marner
Hyman - Nylander - Brown
(Trevor) Moore - Lindholm - Leivo
Martin
Rielly - Hainsey
Gardiner - Zaitsev
Dermott - Carrick (although I'd like to swap Dermott and Hainsey here)
Rosen - Ohziganov
Fredex
Sparks
Marlies
Timashov - Aaltonen - Grundstrom
Engvall - Gauthier - Greening
Marchment - Mueller - Bracco
Clune - Brooks - Dzerkals
Depth: (
http://www.thetelegram.com/sports/potential-newfoundland-growlers-marlies-sign-five-to-ahl-contracts-219620/ )
Marincin - Holl
Borgman - Liljegren
Neilsen - LoVerde
Pickard
Kaskisuo