2005-2006

[leaferfan87]

Who do you see potentially becoming a full-time player on the big team who was on St. John's.

Stajan is definitely on the big team and maybe even Kyle Wellwood.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

Carlo for sure.

[Madferret]

How many games to Staj play for the Leafs last year? He's a sure bet starter for the Leafs this year.

[J.R.]

Firstly, I think we'll have to wait and see how many 35+ year old players they sign before next season.

[MadDevil]

The Leafs could look more different by the beginning of the 2005-2006 season than any other team in the league, depending on which veterans they decide to hold on to. If it was me, I'd resign Nieuwendyk and Roberts, and let guys like Nolan and Mogilny go, freeing up some space for the younger players (even though they don't seem to have a lot of them). Every team is going to look different going into this next season, so it should be interesting.

[scorpionn]

Hopefully, Colaiacovo and Steen (if he decides to finally come over from Sweden), and hopefully Tellqvist will finally become a full time backup goalie.

Though, with the Leaf brass you never know. They have a knack for screwing over good young players out of plyaing time, or just getting rid of them.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

Steen (if he decides to finally come over from Sweden)

Steen to Toronto (http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,663143,00.html)

Apparently it says Steen will come over if there's an NHL season.

[Man.Utd]

I want to see these Leafs prospects more, so hopefully they make the big team - I'd much rather them shoved down my throat than the current roster of old coots. Tellqvist wasn't any better than last year in the AHL and looked very shaky against the World's best with Sweden on the international stage. During his very brief time in Toronto last year he posted a sub .900 SV% and a +2.85 GAA so who knows how he'll handle the NHL. Carlo Colaiacovo hasn't put up overly impressive numbers at the pro level let alone in the bigs. He had a tremendous final year in Erie, scoring a PPG, but that was only over 35 outings so who knows if he would have kept it up (given the roll he was on, it's not that unlikely he would have. But still). Other than that even his OHL stats are not that great. For an offensive defenseman who isn't end-loaded on the defensive side of the game (and not overly physical, either) that' a concern. Steen is coming off of a horrible year in Sweden when he was supposed to truly establish himself as a blue-chip prospect. These guys will have alot to prove. All of them are coming off of dissapointing seasons, although perhaps Colaiacovo can be excused due to injury seeing as he did make some good strides which unfortunatly don't show upon the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, Stajan surpassed expectations in T.O. last year and will look to build off of his success. Following the Binghamton Senators this season I have also developped a different view of Kyle Wellwood - he's terribly underrated and would've led the American league in scoring during a normal year. But you'd never know it with all the previous mentioned prospects getting all the hype. I still think he's got some big holes in his game, but what offensive talent doesn't at this stage in his career? One of the AHL's finest, he seems ready to make the jump.

[PDO]

Here's why Wellwood won't make the Leafs.

With the exception of the occasional PF (Bertuzzi, Iginila, etc.. even a guy like Winchester or Isbister can make a case) a forward that will play on the top 2 lines in the NHL will be a PPG by the time he is 20 in the AHL. Anyone that doesn't think that's true, feel free to find guys who did the opposite.. good luck. Essentially, the Leafs can buy out two players.. if one of them isn't Ed Belfour, I'll be shocked.

[Madferret]

Crosby should make the big team this year.

:D - Couldn't resist fellas.....

[scorpionn]

Wellwood is a big if... He could potentially become a good 2nd/3rd line forward.. he could also become an AHL regular for his career.

His size has always been the major question. They said he would never do well in junior, but he did. They also said he wouldn't get it done in the AHL and he proved to everyone he can score at that level.

He definately has the skill, it all depends if he can score in the NHL and not get constantly pushed around by the opposing team.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

Ryder and Ribeiro weren't PPG players at that point in their AHL development. Ryder was actually sent down to the ECHL at one point. Ribeiro is actually a decent NHL comparision for Wellwood if he does make it. An undersized second line center, with good playmaking ability, and limited in the defensive zone.

Another guy on the St. John's team who could make the big club is Ben Ondrus. He's a bit undersized, but a hardworker and would be a cheap 4th liner in the cap world (since I doubt Domi will be back at the money he'll want).

[Newfie John]

I want to see these Leafs prospects more, so hopefully they make the big team - I'd much rather them shoved down my throat than the current roster of old coots.

I'm with you there, except for the shoved down throat part.

Tellqvist wasn't any better than last year in the AHL and looked very shaky against the World's best with Sweden on the international stage.

Key word, the world's best and he was still developing then. With a substandard defence on the rock for most of his time facing at least 30, occasionally 50 shots in a game he did a pretty good job IMO. I think he'll be fine.

Carlo Colaiacovo hasn't put up overly impressive numbers at the pro level let alone in the bigs. He had a tremendous final year in Erie, scoring a PPG, but that was only over 35 outings so who knows if he would have kept it up (given the roll he was on, it's not that unlikely he would have. But still). Other than that even his OHL stats are not that great. For an offensive defenseman who isn't end-loaded on the defensive side of the game (and not overly physical, either) that' a concern.

In his whopping 2 NHL games, he's had 1 assist so thats not bad. In his pre season stats he must be averaging a point per game with the leafs because he tears it up the pre season every year only to be cut by Quinn. :rolleyes: JFJ has already been saying about how much Colaiocovo has improved, I'd go to say he's a good defender now. You continue to say he's not physical, while he's probably the most physical defencemen on the leaf team with exception to Jay Harrison. He's had a few 5 minute majors this year for fighting also. This year he was especially physical when he played. I understand your ignorance because you didn't see him much but in the probable game you did see him vs Binghamton, he plastered Spezza into the boards, in case you forgot. :laughing:


Steen is coming off of a horrible year in Sweden when he was supposed to truly establish himself as a blue-chip prospect.

He had 4th line minutes with all the NHLers coming in and he was also playing an unfamiliar position on the wing. Towards the end of the year he was really picking it up and found himself on the top line on the wing so it seems he's getting used to the position which is good. How he handles the NHL game is still a question however.

These guys will have alot to prove. All of them are coming off of dissapointing seasons, although perhaps Colaiacovo can be excused due to injury seeing as he did make some good strides which unfortunatly don't show upon the scoreboard.

Playing for Toronto, you have a lot to prove anyway. Steen and Coli should be fine, Tellqvist is a wild card.

Meanwhile, Stajan surpassed expectations in T.O. last year and will look to build off of his success.

Agreed. Though it lookes like Stajan could turn into a consistant 30 goal scorer some day after his great rookie year, I doubt it. I think he'll stay around 20-25 goals and be a good two way center.

Following the Binghamton Senators this season I have also developped a different view of Kyle Wellwood - he's terribly underrated and would've led the American league in scoring during a normal year. But you'd never know it with all the previous mentioned prospects getting all the hype. I still think he's got some big holes in his game, but what offensive talent doesn't at this stage in his career? One of the AHL's finest, he seems ready to make the jump.

Hopefully Quinn takes him, but once again I highly doubt it just because of his size and Quinn has something against little players, let alone litte and young. JFJ should fire him when the CBA is finalized. It's obvious the leafs will not be contenders when the NHL returns, and if the leafs are, they won't be serious ones. Quinn isn't a good coach for a rebuilding role.

As for my opinion on the topic at hand, I think Stajan, Colaiocovo, and Tellqvist will all be on it for sure. Steen will likely come over from Sweden also. Maybe Wellwood but I doubt it considering he may need one more year for seasoning though I think he has a very strong career in the future, but MLSE will likely want him with the Marlies to help sell the game there.. because if Wellwood goes too.. the best player left in the farm system is.... Ian White. Not good. Don't get me wrong I love White and I think he'll be a 3-4 offensive PP specialist one day, but he's just not an anchor on defence.

[Newfie John]

Wellwood is a big if... He could potentially become a good 2nd/3rd line forward.. he could also become an AHL regular for his career.

3rd line center definately not. If Welly makes the NHL he's going to have to be a 1-2 line center guy, he wouldn't be able to fit any other role. I think one day Steen will patrol the top line while Wellwood has the second line with Stajan on the third line. Or vice versa with Steen and Wellwood. The improvements that Wellwood has made since he's been drafted have been great. He won't be a career AHLer. If he continues his development, which is likely, he WILL be in the NHL, whether thats as a leaf or not remains to be seen.

His size has always been the major question. They said he would never do well in junior, but he did. They also said he wouldn't get it done in the AHL and he proved to everyone he can score at that level.

Exactly. At every single level he's proved people wrong, I think he'll do it again in the NHL. I've said it time and time again, he plays just like Adam Oates. Small, not great speed but enough to get by. Wellwoods vision and passing ability is second to none. Does that sound like Adam Oates to you?

He definately has the skill, it all depends if he can score in the NHL and not get constantly pushed around by the opposing team.

Well apparently the "new NHL" will consist of a game where the little guy can survive. I always thought that Welly would be fine either way, but with the new rules coming in it should help Wellwood all the more.

[Man.Utd]

Key word, the world's best and he was still developing then. With a substandard defence on the rock for most of his time facing at least 30, occasionally 50 shots in a game he did a pretty good job IMO. I think he'll be fine.

But many of those guys he faced were still developing too. There were a fair amount of very talented young guns present on those senior teams. I will definatly give you that Tellqvist would fair considerably better today, but I still haven't seen enough to convince me that he will be able to succesfully yeild the better offensive teams of the league who all happen to have 4-5 good, quality scoring threats. Hossa, Havlat, Spezza, Alfredsson could likely light him up 3+ times in a game for example. As good Sakic, Forsberg, Tanguay, and Hejduk. Telly could very well be servicable as an NHL goaltender, but unless he starts to develop more rapidly and consistantly he won't be a guy to lead a team to a Cup (luckily for Toronto, many teams don't have their own draft product between the pipes and are doing just fine).

JFJ has already been saying about how much Colaiocovo has improved, I'd go to say he's a good defender now. You continue to say he's not physical, while he's probably the most physical defencemen on the leaf team with exception to Jay Harrison. He's had a few 5 minute majors this year for fighting also. This year he was especially physical when he played. I understand your ignorance because you didn't see him much but in the probable game you did see him vs Binghamton, he plastered Spezza into the boards, in case you forgot. :laughing:

A good defender at the AHL level, yes. But even then he's not among the best in the league. Against NHL competition I think he'd still fall below the average mark - and I assume he'll be against NHL competition next year. Of course, that should change with time but he'll never be a stalwart.

The most physical defender on the Baby leafs aside from Harison? More so than Moro?! Although I'll give you he's not nearly as skilled as Cola. And it's not like St. John's had a terribly punishing blueline, either. It's good to know he's willing to drop the gloves, but Shaun Van Allen had a few fighting majors aswell, he wasn't one to throw his weight around. Fighting doesn't equal out to phsyical play, though the two often do go hand-in-hand.

That was a nice hit Colaiacovo laid on Spezza. After Spezza sent him flying into the boards earlier in the game with an even bigger check....... and I don't consider Jason Spezza a physical guy by any means, in spite of havng to physical tools to be.

He had 4th line minutes with all the NHLers coming in and he was also playing an unfamiliar position on the wing. Towards the end of the year he was really picking it up and found himself on the top line on the wing so it seems he's getting used to the position which is good. How he handles the NHL game is still a question however.

Sorry, I don't buy that ice-time excuse. Although he couldn't be expected to put up huge figures with that much time, he should have done better than he did. Steen put up slightly better numbers in his first full SEL season, recieving similar ice-time. The NHL'ers being present, Alex can be excused for some lapse in production, but given how much farther ahead in his development he is now the kid should have at the very least equaled his rookie totals.


Agreed that Quinn has to go, every players has to prove something when first coming to the big smoke, and that Stajan may put up 30 goals someday. But that'd be somewhat unlikely and would happen in a career year - his vision and passing have always been better than his finishing (as is quite evident just by looking at his stats). I don't think Stajan's ever broke 30 goals at any level yet (don't quote me on that though!), so I don't know if he can reach the mark in the bigs.

Well apparently the "new NHL" will consist of a game where the little guy can survive. I always thought that Welly would be fine either way, but with the new rules coming in it should help Wellwood all the more.

Any link with the NHL claiming this? They always say something like that and never follow through. I hope they do this time though. It will help some promising Sens prospects like Alexei Kaygorodov and already established guys like Hossa and Havlat can use their speed even more to their advantage. Teams like Buffalo would always clutch and grab to slow them down because they couldb't match them skill-wise. No penalties were called.

[PDO]

John, I think you really are under-estimating how much a poor year of development can negatively effect a prospect. Oiler fans are (rightfully) worried about guys like Woywitka and Lynch.. you can't simply blow off a year of development. He had fourth line minutes, and that's definetly not a good thing.. at his current age that could quite possibly end any chance he had at the NHL.

The longer a player is jerked around, the less likely it is he's going to succeed. You can thank Quinn for that. I'd go as far to say a guy like Coli had #1 potential.. that potential has now dropped because he's been stagnant in the AHL.

[Madferret]

The longer a player is jerked around, the less likely it is he's going to succeed. You can thank Quinn for that. I'd go as far to say a guy like Coli had #1 potential.. that potential has now dropped because he's been stagnant in the AHL.

Agreed. How many guys have blossomed since being traded from the Leafs? Is that coincidence or poor scouting & developement? Jackman most recently is an excellent example.

[scorpionn]

Agreed. How many guys have blossomed since being traded from the Leafs? Is that coincidence or poor scouting & developement? Jackman most recently is an excellent example.

That Jackman trade still has me boiling. He was barely given a chance in Toronto, and he showed that with top line minutes in Pittsburgh that he can be a great offensive threat and play a sound defensive game.

Don't even mention Alyn McCauley...

Now without Quinn as GM, there is some hope, and the harder the cap, the more chances some of the younger players will get. I'm pretty confident that prospect development is pretty high on JFJ's to do list. For once they owe us an exciting young team that is hungry to play, like in '99. Calgary and Tampa being excellent examples, they developed a lot of their roster using previous draft picks.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

It's not like the Leafs were the first team to give up on Jackman. He failed in Dallas and Boston too. The Leafs gave him a shot to make the team 42 games in 02-03 and 29 games in 03-04. Jackman wasn't amazing in either stint. It's not like the Leafs are short on 4th/5th dmen anyways. Bell, White, Harrison, and Vorbobiev are all in the system and Kaberle, Klee, and Pilar are currently on the big club. If Jackman developed into a stalwart like Pronger, Blake, or Chara maybe I'd lose some sleep over it.

As for McCauley, it was a trade that needed to be made. Everybody was always bitching about the Leafs not making any deadline deals to bolster the roster (unless you count Aki Berg :curse: ), so the team went out and tried to get an impact player. In hindsight is it easy to tear the deal up, of course, but you were probably singing a different tune when Nolan just came here and was tearing it up on that line with Antropov and Renberg. Even last season he wasn't that bad, with 48 points in 65 games. If anything you should blame Quinn for not sticking him on the first line with Sundin.

[PDO]

Don't lose sleep over MCCauley.. over-rated.

When Modano would come into town to play the Sharks.. McCauley was almost never on the ice with him. Great shut down man indeed. Wilson is the new Bowman.. seeing just how much he can get the media to believe :coffee:

[Man.Utd]

Don't lose sleep over MCCauley.. over-rated.

By who? The general opinion on McCauley is that he is a great two-way center, best suited to a second line role. Which he is. The stats don't lie in his case (20g, 27a, 47p, +23).

As for Jackman, he was given his chance with Toronto as LFL pointed out and failed. But like many young players, he found his game once under a coach other than Pat Quinn. Anyone who watched the Penguins on occasion will know he's quite a player. And Jackman hardly "failed" in Boston and Dallas in spite of previous mention. While in Boston he played a whole 2 games. With their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, Jackman was lucky enough to play in 11 contests (playoffs included).

The Dallas Stars gave him a longer run, but even then he was only given 38 games over two seasons. I can't see how that can be classified as a failure, be it with the Stars or the Bruins. He never got a fair chance to prove himself (unlike in Toronto).

[PDO]

McCauley had no business being nominated for the Selke, which was my point.

He's a good player, and a decent second line center.. and that's it.

[Madferret]

I can't slam McCauley cause he single handidly won a series for the Leafs against Ottawa a couple of years ago (BOO Pt 3?). I was glad when they sent that Sens killer to the West Coast...

[Man.Utd]

I can't slam McCauley cause he single handidly won a series for the Leafs against Ottawa a couple of years ago (BOO Pt 3?). I was glad when they sent that Sens killer to the West Coast...

McCauley was a total beast that year in the playoffs. 15 points in 20 games, all of them clutch. Strange he's been a total flop in the playoffs thus far in his NHL career (excluding that run, of course). Another product of the 67's. Remember when he absolutely shattered 100 points in 50 games, winning CHL Player of the Year? He collected quite a few honours that season. :nod:

[Newfie John]

I can't slam McCauley cause he single handidly won a series for the Leafs against Ottawa a couple of years ago (BOO Pt 3?). I was glad when they sent that Sens killer to the West Coast...

Thats one of my most memorable leaf moments. Sundin going down and then Mccauley stepping in and just ripping it up. Seeing Mccauley and Boyes go in that deal was something I hated, but like everyone else at the time, Nolan seemed to be the man when he got here. 2 goals vs Vancouver in his first game as a leaf.

[J.R.]

Nolan seemed to be the man when he got here. 2 goals vs Vancouver in his first game as a leaf.And then...? :laughing:

I was glad to see McCauley go as well. Yet another player kicked out of Toronto, just to see him prosper elsewhere in his prime.