Toronto Maple Leafs

How Are The Leafs Doing In The Development Game?

So I was surfing TMLfans.ca a little while ago, and something I read caught my eye.

“This brings up another thing I have with the Leafs org….The Marlies haven’t developed a single guy since White.  Seriously, Tlusty and Stralman played but a handful of games there.

Newbury and Ondrus can play great in the AHL, but aren’t taught the skills to make the jump?

What the hell is the point of this development team if they’re not developing anybody?

Have the picks been that bad?  People tell me JFJ could draft, but seriously..”

-Frank E

I don’t actually know Frank.  He’s not a talking head in the media, and this is NOT a posting designed to rip his viewpoint.  I just felt it might be a worthwhile exercise to examine the Leafs record in recent seasons when it comes to drafting and developing players internally.

If we skim the Leaf logs back to the Pat Quinn era as GM, from 1999 to 2003, here is a listing of the Leaf draft selections that played significant time in the Leafs farm system before making it to the NHL.

1999

Pierre Hedin (239th overall) - The Swedish D man played 62 games for the St. John’s Maple Leafs in 2003-04 as well as 3 games for the Leafs in the same season.  He was the only player drafted in 1999 by the Leafs that made it to the NHL.

2000

Brad Boyes (24th overall) - Brad played 65 games for the St. John’s Maple Leafs in 2002-03, and was dealt to San Jose in the Owen Nolan trade mid-season.  He spent more time in the San Jose and Boston minor league systems than he did that of  the Leafs.  He scored 43 goals last season for the St. Louis Blues.

Mikael Tellqvist (70th overall) - Mikael played 143 games for the St. John’s Maple Leafs before eventually making his way to the Leafs full time as their backup.  He played 41 games in a Toronto Maple Leafs uniform before being dealt to Phoenix.  He was developed by the Leafs and made it to the NHL with the club.

2001

Carlo Colaiacovo (17th) - One of the prized selections of the Quinn scouting staff, Carlo played with Boyes on the Erie Otters team that won the Memorial Cup, as well as a few go arounds with the Canadian National Junior Team.  He unfortunately has had a lot of hard luck with injuries at both the AHL and NHL level, suffering serious concussions, damage to his hearing, and various broken bones, etc.  Carlo has slowly morphed into the latest in the Leafs long line of promising players who are alarmingly injury prone (i.e. Antropov, Clark, Pilar, etc.).  As a result of all his time in the infirmary, his development has been extremely slow.  Carlo has played 132 games with the St. John’s Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marlies, as well as 101 games in the NHL.  He plays at a high level- IF he plays that is.

Karel Pilar (39th) - Another solid selection, Pilar played 65 games over 3 seasons with the St. John’s Maple Leafs, before finally making his way to the big club, playing 90 games with the Leafs.  He was a decent 5th or 6th D man for the club, until a viral infection in the lining of his heart caused him to miss over a season of hockey.  He has since returned to play in his native Czech Republic.

Brendan Bell (65th) - He played 219 games over 3 seasons with both the St. John’s Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marlies, before playing 45 games at the NHL level in 2006-07.  31 of those games were with the Leafs, the last 14 of them were with the Phoenix Coyotes, post trade.  He ended up playing the majority of last season in the minors with the San Antonio Rampage… so I’m not sure we can say he’s really been “developed” to the point of being an NHL regular.

Jay Harrison (82nd) - Harrison has played 376 games in the AHL for the Leafs farm squads in St. John’s and Toronto over the course of the past 7 years.  He has played a grand total of 13 NHL games with the Leafs.  He is now going to play his next season in Europe because he couldn’t get a decent free agent offer in North America.  This would be another situation where I’m not sure we can consider the player to have “developed” significantly enough to make it to the NHL.

Kyle Wellwood (134th) - Kyle played 156 games with the St. John’s Leafs and the Toronto Marlies, before being promoted to the Leafs on a permanent basis in 2005-06.  He was one of their leading scorers and best play makers in the AHL, and was suited to that role initially with the Leafs.  Unfortunately his conditioning issues, groin injuries, and addiction to butter, led to him being waived by management earlier this off season.

Maxim Kondratiev (168th) - He played only 18 games for the St. John’s Maple Leafs, and 7 with the big club, before deciding he would prefer to return home to Russia to play for Lada Togliatti.  Since then, his rights were dealt to the NY Rangers… and then Anaheim.  Don’t really know if he counts as being developed by the Leafs.

2002

Alex Steen (24th) - The only time Alex spent in the AHL was - well - Never…

Matt Stajan (57th) - Stajan played 1 game, and then 1 full season with the baby buds.  His only regular stint came during the lockout season, when he along with Wellwood, went down to “lead” the team to a relatively productive season.  That being said, if it wasn’t for the lockout, it is unlikely he would have played much in the minors.  It is also possible that his development was neither improved nor hampered by spending time there.

Ian White (191st) - Ian played 145 games for the St John’s Leafs and the Toronto Marlies.  He has since gone on to play 169 NHL games for the Leafs.  His development at the AHL level was noteworthy. As Frank indicated, he really is the only Leaf regular promoted within the past few seasons to actually spend a significant portion of time with the minor league club.

Staffan Kronwall (285th) - Kronwall is the younger brother of Detroit’s best young blue liner, Niklas Kronwall.  He too is a physically imposing specimen that likes to dish out physical play.  Unfortunately he lacks his brother’s offensive awareness and puck skills, so the best he’s likely to manage in the NHL is a defensive 6th or 7th D man role.  He has played 89 games with the Toronto Marlies over the past 3 seasons, missing quite a bit of time with various injuries.  He actually made the Leafs squad coming out of camp in 2005-06, and ended up playing 34 games for the team that season.  Unfortunately when he got injured, he was then sent down to the Marlies, and hasn’t seen much action since.  Overall he has played 52 NHL games with Toronto.  He’s likely hoping for another strong showing in camp, but at this point he’s more likely to spend more time on the farm or end up as trade bait.

JFJ’s reign of pain!?

Following the 2002 draft, we entered the John Ferguson Jr. era, and more effort seemed to be poured into scouting US College Hockey, and the USHL.  Unfortunately, few players have blossomed thus far from the Leafs organization based on Ferguson’s drafting.  Here is a similar list for his tenure

2003

Jeremy Williams (220th) - The hard shooting sniper, formerly of the Swift Current Broncos (where he played alongside Ian White), has only managed to play 20 NHL games thus far in his young career.  He has seen lots of actions with the Marlies and the St. John’s Maple Leafs though, having played in 206 games.  His offensive skills have never really pushed him above the rest of the crowd in the AHL, so his chances of doing so in the NHL seem relatively low.  If his heavy shot, and improving defensive play help him to the big club, Leafs fans should try and not expect too much out of him.

2004

Robbie Earl (187th) - A former US National U-18 team member, and scoring star for the NCAA champ Wisconsin Badgers, Earl has played 134 games for the Toronto Marlies.  This past season he got his first taste of NHL action playing 9 games with the Leafs.  If he makes the team full time out of camp, he would be another product of the Marlies newer system of high speed, solid defensive play, with a bit of scoring thrown in for fun.

2005

Anton Stralman (216th) - Stralman was brought over this past season, with the Leafs unsure of where he’d end up coming out of camp.  He was initially sent down to the Marlies and played so well they had to call him back up after 21 games.  He played 50 for the Leafs registering 9 points.  Seen as a potential steal pick for the Leafs at 216, Stralman’s heady offensive game was on fine display at this year’s past IIHF World Championships, in Quebec City and Halifax.  He led the Swedish D in scoring, and was one of their top players at the tournament.  Unfortunately in relation to this thread, it is unlikely that anyone would say his game was “developed” by the Marlies coaching staff.  The Leafs minor league system had no real relevance in the development of Stralman.

2006

Jiri Tlusty (13th) - He was brought over to North America for the 2006-07 season, and played predominantly for the Sault-Ste. Marie Greyhounds, playing admirably for them in the playoffs.  Then this year he was given more time with the big club… with the logic being that hanging out with the likes of Sundin would be to his benefit… who knows if that worked or not.  Near the end of the year, he was sent back down to the Marlies where he proved himself worthy of AHL stardom, being named the player of the week for the last week of the season, and 10 points in 19 playoff games.  Overall he has played 39 Regular Season, and Playoff games in the AHL, to go along with 58 games for the Leafs.  I’m not sure the Marlies “developed” his play so much, but he did help them win a few.

So where are we now?

If the situation that concerns Frank is the development of players through the Marlies, he perhaps should examine the paucity of CHL talent the Leafs drafted during Ferguson’s tenure.  In fact, during Quinn’s 4 NHL drafts as Leafs GM, they selected 18 CHL players, and three NCAA players, with the rest playing predominantly in Europe.  During Ferguson’s four year tenure that shifted to  9 NCAA players, and 9 CHL players.  CHL players are FAR more likely to play in the AHL than NCAA players.  If College players finish off their NCAA eligibility, they are often almost 22 by the time they graduate, by which point they are usually NHL ready, or they’ve already fallen off the NHL team that drafted them’s radar.  CHL’ers on the other hand graduate from junior right into the AHL ranks.  The fact that Quinn developed 7 CHL players, while Ferguson to this point had only developed 2, makes sense if you consider the fact that of the Leafs current top prospects, drafted since 2004, at least 10 of them are playing in the NCAA.

My point is, it’s not that the Marlies are atrocious at developing talent, it just has a lot more to do with the fact that Ferguson leaned on his US College Hockey contacts far more, for solid scouting leads, when he was making up his draft list for the Leafs.

Try to remember that when thinking about how “bare” the cupboard is for the Leafs.  The talking heads rarely draw your attention to players who have yet to see the Leafs PROFESSSIONAL farm system, thanks to the NCAA’s rules regarding player eligibility.  If they want to keep playing in school, they can’t recieve any form of significant personal gain from a prospective employer with financial interest in them.

So YES, John Ferguson was an ok judge of talent, and he drafted reasonably well, but he did so in very specific places.  Those places are also atypical in the history of the Leafs organizations, and until the Leafs see where some of their NCAA draft picks end up, we won’t know if they’ll continue the trend.  That being said, it should be noted that of the Leafs 2008 draft picks, four of the eight players selected will be playing in the NCAA next year, while three will be playing in the CHL, and one will be playing in Europe.

No matter what you think of Ferguson, you can’t deny his efforts to get the Leafs tapped into US college hockey have borne some fruit for the future.