Meet The Newest Young Leaf - Tim “Buster” Stapleton
June 6th, 2008 by Steve
Tim Stapleton isn’t an imposing figure. Standing 5′9″ and only 160 lbs, from a size perspective he’s actually 1 inch shorter, and 20 lbs lighter than Kyle Wellwood, and the same height and 20 lbs lighter than Marty St. Louis. His height is 1 inch above the smallest players in the league, and he’ll apparently be the lightest player in the NHL if he doesn’t put on a few pounds. His nearest comparisons for size would be Pierre-Marc Bouchard on Minnesota and… everyone else is bigger. Heck, you know when Patrick Kane has an inch and 10 lbs on you, that you’re probably going to get by on skill more than anything.
Luckily, Stapleton has skill. As the NHL has moved to stop clutching, grabbing, and most forms of interference in an effort to clean up the game, smaller players seem to be making a bigger impact. This past season in the Finnish Elite League with Jokerit Helsinki, Stapleton finished 5th overall in points with 62, and finished 2nd overall in goals with 29.
He played 2 seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL from 2000 through 2002, leading the team in assists and points in the ‘01-’02 season. Other players of note to pass through their system include Ty Conklin, Tom Preissing, Blake Wheeler, Jeff Finger, Matt Greene, and Adam Burrish.
He then moved on to play 4 seasons in the NCAA for the University of Minnseota-Duluth Bulldogs. He led the WCHA team in scoring as a rookie with 42 points. One of his team-mates that first year was Tampa Bay Lightning winger Junior Lessard. In his 2nd and 3rd years he put up 40 and 39 points respectively as the team shifted from a winning to a losing outfit. Then in his final season, a transition year for the Bulldogs, he again led the team in scoring with a total of 30 points. The College team had a combined record of 26-42-20 over his last two seasons. That being said, the team he left boasted a young Mason Raymond (Vancouver 2nd round), Michael Gergen (Pittsburgh 2nd round), and Matt Niskanen (Dallas 1st round), as well as a few other late round draft picks. Despite their struggles at the collegiate level they’ve all panned out into decent NHL prospects.
Following a cup of coffee with the Portland Pirates of the AHL (9 games played, 5 assists recorded, 0 goals), he moved on to play with Jokerit. During last season’s playoffs he recorded 10 points in 10 games, 6 of them as goals.
Stapleton should be able to provide some scoring, but considering the issues around his size, and the way things panned out last season with players like Simon Gamache, I don’t know that I would expect a lot out of him at this point. My guess would be he gets a shot at camp, and ends up with the Marlies, with the possibility being that if he impresses in the AHL he gets a shot at the NHL. As a 25 year old, the Leafs are taking a flier on him with the hopes that he pans out into another Steve Sullivan, Marty St. Louis type. The odds of that are low, but considering it probably isn’t costing them much in the money department, and they didn’t have to lose a player to get him, it’s obviously worth it to give him the chance.
Posted in Prospects
10 Responses to “Meet The Newest Young Leaf - Tim “Buster” Stapleton”
By Down Goes Brown on Jun 6, 2008
Wait, Kyle Wellwood is listed as 180 lbs?
I thought they made you take all the twinkies and Pringles out of your pocket before you weighed in.
By Down Goes Brown on Jun 6, 2008
It occurs to me that I just made fun of Kyle Wellwood for being too light and too fat in the same joke.
And yet I stand by it.
By Steve on Jun 6, 2008
Yeah… Kyle worked hard to gain those extra 20 lbs, and he’s going to keep them on if he has to eat the entire Twinkie factory. Screw working out, lets all read a book and pig out.
By jaredoflondon on Jun 8, 2008
20lbs of battered fist and hands of silk, thus will be the legacy of the Wellwood.
By Tony on Jul 15, 2008
Buster is going to snipe some ginos… Give the guy a shot and he’s going to make the best of it! Grew up playing with the guy and he’s always been the best skater wherever he went…
By JIMMY SIECZKA on Sep 26, 2008
TONY I AGREE.. GREW UP PLAYING WITH BUSTER AT OAK PARK AND THE KID COULD MOVE THEN AND I’M SURE HE’S GONNA DO JUST FINE IN THE NHL. BEST SKATER,PASSER, SCORER I EVER SHARED THE ICE WITH…
By Steve on Sep 27, 2008
Unfortunately - Tim has already been shipped to the Marlies along with Darryl Boyce. So much for his NHL dreams.
By TheGoodTim on Oct 4, 2008
They keep listing him at 160. He hasn’t weighed that much since he was in high school. I think he was close to 190 in the summer but lost some of that weight in camp. I’m sure they weighed him when he got to Toronto, why wouldn’t they publish that info?