Rookie Tournament

[herman]

Leafs lines vs. Blackhawks, which is about to get going in Traverse City:
Robertson - SDA - Korshkov
Hamblin - Abramov - Conrad
Woods - Elynuik - Brazeau
Carroll - Simoneau - Moore

Kral - Duszak
Sapego - Loponen
Pepin - Staios

Zhukov
Bouthilier

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) September 7, 2019

Brazeau can really shoot. For a big guy, he moves very ‘quietly’ on the ice and is always hovering between the dots drifting into passing lanes (a la Matthews).

Korshkov doesn’t have the traditional playmaker build but really uses his reach to swing pucks into the right places.

Robertson is as advertised. Like Johnsson but... more.

I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Colt Conrad so far and I’m interested to see how he fares on the Marlies.

I wasn’t sure how the defense would fare today with what looks to be the B/Cs other than Duszak, but it didn’t seem to affect them.

[Highlander]

Nice to see so many intriguing prospects, Kivihalme seems very good, Duzak may get to the bigs at some point, Brazeau and Elynuik are big guys with talent.   Robertson is going to be top 6 in two to three years for sure.

[herman]

Leafs lines vs. Red Wings in Traverse City tonight:
Korshkov - SDA - Conrad
Robertson - Elynuik - Brazeau
Stotts - Abramov - Alistrov
Nelson - Bradley - Estephan

Kivihalme - Hollowell
Rubins - Lindgren
Kral - Larochelle

Scott
Zhukov

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) September 9, 2019

Leafs site doesn’t seem to have the stream but the Red Wings site does.

Never mind

Game on!

Fans in Toronto can stream the action >> https://t.co/hvwEaZMW1u https://t.co/R780tuDs8J

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) September 9, 2019

[herman]

SDA ties the game picking a corner.

SDA Goal! 1-1! 🚨 #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/cPZmC3DOO9

— David Nestico (@davidnestico200) September 9, 2019

Korshkov is ferocious on the forecheck and SDA roofs it! pic.twitter.com/ZcxVRVBmPP

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) September 9, 2019

Taro Hirose restores the lead.

[herman]

Teemu Kivihalme strips Seider (?) off the rush and takes it end to end for the tie game.

Kivihalme steals the puck and scores to tie the game at 2! 🚨 #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/PEsaM7rlKL

— David Nestico (@davidnestico200) September 9, 2019

[herman]

Robertson on 4-3 PP is a menace. Kivihalme is too good for this tournament.

[herman]

Robertson with another goal (late PP) at the first period buzzer. 4 goals in his three games at this tourney.

Roberston gives Toronto the lead with almost no time left! #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/CaVkbW436h

— David Nestico (@davidnestico200) September 9, 2019

After one period of play: Robertson, Conrad, Elyunik, Kivihalme, Hollowell working well

Seider for the Red Wings has been really good as well, but his undisciplined behaviour away from the play has cost them the lead going into the second.

[herman]

For such a weak prospect pool with a lot of low picks these past three seasons (zero 1st rd picks at this tourney), most of whom have only played 1 AHL season, the Leafs are more than holding their own.

[herman]

Kivihalme extends the lead off a tip off a Red Wing.

Teemu Kivihalme scores his 2nd of the game and its 4-2 Leafs! 🚨#TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/bqvonGTAou

— David Nestico (@davidnestico200) September 9, 2019

[herman]

Toronto’s been getting a lot of sticks on passes and forcing turnovers in transition all game and forcing the play into the OZ. SDA is playing some PK and his quick hands are holding him in good stead.

Red wings trying to get under the Leafs’ skins but they’re just laughing and working. Red Wing commentators doing their best to keep their spirits up. They’re short handed on the backend after losing one of their top D to a presumed concussion (he tried to stand up Estephan at his own blue line but got blown up).

[herman]

The Red Wings play-by-play guy is getting wrecked by Semon Der-Arguchinsik.

The Wings battle back to close the period tying the game.

[herman]

Filip Kral nearly broke the tie with his own end to end rush but found crossbar.

[herman]

Leafs down one with 5 min to go. Goaltender Romeo is putting on a good show to counter what the Leafs are throwing at the net.

[Highlander]

thanks Herman for all the commentary. Looks like Kivihalme is the real deal???

[CarltonTheBear]

For such a weak prospect pool with a lot of low picks these past three seasons (zero 1st rd picks at this tourney), most of whom have only played 1 AHL season, the Leafs are more than holding their own.

Usually the "worse" teams in these tournaments (or the ones with the least flashy prospects) are also the oldest which makes a pretty big difference. Like you said a guy like Kivihalme really has no business playing here. I mean he's 24 years old! Same with Korshkov, he has 5 years of professional hockey under his belt. It's going to benefit them for training camp to get adjusted to the team/system a little more but it sort of goes against the spirit of having a "prospects" tournament.