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This is Pronmans Top 5
1 Chase Reid – Player Comp Seth Jones
2 Alberts Smits – Player Comp Jakob Chychrun
3 Keaton Verhoeff – Player Comp Aaron Ekblad
4 Gavin McKenna – Player Comp Artemi Panarin
5 Ivar Stenberg – Player Comp Jake GuentzelReid is a talented defenseman with a lot of offensive tools. He has the speed, hands, vision and shot to generate chances and be a leading scorer for an NHL team. Reid can create in transition and off the blue line with his feet and creativity, showing high-end improvisation skills. Reid isn’t overly physical, but he works hard enough and makes plenty of stops due to his reach, feet and compete level even while playing an aggressive style of play offensively. He projects as a major minutes NHL defenseman who can run a first power play.
McKenna possesses off-the-charts puck skills, vision and overall offensive creativity. He’s a strong skater who can generate a ton of chances with pace. He’s a pass-first player who projects to run a power play at a high level due to his elite playmaking ability. He’s not overly physical and can be pushed to the outside too much, but despite his frustrating tendencies, coaches still tend to play him a ton at every level. He projects as a top-line winger who can run a PP1
Stenberg is an electric offensive talent. He’s a high-end puck handler, passer and shooter who can make difficult plays with the puck routinely and is a natural scorer. He isn’t that big or mean, but he works hard and has shown he can win battles against men. His frame and good (but not great) small-guy skating will be concerns on his NHL projection. He could be a top-line winger.
Should do and can do are two different things. First, you know MLS&E won’t stand for a full rebuild. They have shareholders to keep happy and a shinny new National Cable package that brings in advertising revenue. The Maple Leafs are the NHL’s most valuable team in regards to revenue sharing. If people don’t come, because the team is in the shitter for 5+ years, that can be an issue for the league. My best bet is a fairly deep retool. They may indeed move Matthews and Nylander, but they’ll want NHL caliber talent coming back, as well as draft capital. The team won’t wait for three years to be a playoff team again. My guess is they’ll be into free agency and build around their current defensive core and goaltending. Their goaltending depth is also an asset. They could easily flip Woll for a first rounder and never miss a beat. Stolarz and Hildeby would suffice as a tandem that makes them competitive next year. Would I like a true rebuild? Sure, but MLS&E won’t. Best case scenario is seeing them acquire another early 1st rounder this year, to go with number 1 and play the longer game of moving assets at the trade deadline, next year. That allows them to short their own first rounder to Philly, next year, forcing it to be in the 15 to 20 range, while securing a better first from another team. Do that and the Boston pick may be irrelevant.
The leafs sucked then tanked and got Nylander, Marner and Matthews in the process even they did not do a full tear down then, they kept Kadri and Rielly.
They are in an even more precarious position now since they dont have 2027/28 firsts. So yeah, they wont be doing a full tear down. And I dont think they need to now, at least until you see how Matthews plays out.If McKenna is hyped as Patrick Kane, Stenberg could be considered Forsberg or Zetterberg. Very few Swedish prospects have scored the way he scored in the SHL this year. Stenberg has outperformed guys like Backstrom, Nylander, Lindholm, Carlsson and many other elite Swedish prospects. And he doesn’t play one-way hockey. His hockey IQ is high and plays two-way hockey. It’s a shame he doesn’t play center but if the battle is between two wingers, Stenberg is the superior all around player. Considering the Leafs have already tried and failed with Nylander as a one-way player, it would be repeating the same mistake all over again. Even if McKenna were the higher offensive output player, we know that when the games matter, what Stenberg brings is more valuable. We have also seen McKenna finish in 2nd (or worse) in the OHL, the WJC and the NCAA when he was considered the best player on the ice amongst his peers. That’s potentially because of his lack of a physical game and a defensive game costs him the games that matter the most. Watching him for Canada, he was the “best” player on the “best” team and did not deliver.
McKenna is not Patrick Kane. The only reason that comparison is appearing is because he punched somebody out in a street fight situation. That comparison is an overshoot. Kane scored 60+ goals in the OHL with 140+ points. He made Sam Gagner and Sergei Kostitsyn look like legit stars and turned them both into 100+ point players. The hype around Kane was that of a legit generational talent. The same can’t be said about McKenna legitimately and the biggest reason for his hype is because he’s the Canadian contender for #1 and the Canadian sports media likes to hype their own guy harder.
In terms of who might dominate the NHL, there’s a strong case to be made for Reid as an offensive, smooth skating, 6’3″ RHD. He could be the next Makar (better than Hischier and Patrick). That, to me, is so much more valuable than a one-way LW. Same could be said about Verhoeff in a different manner as he could be a physically dominating top pair RHD like Ekblad or Hedman. Again, not the “100 point” player but the guy who helps you win when the games matter the most. If the Islanders got to draft 1st overall again in 2009 knowing what they know now, would they take Tavares or Hedman? I’d take Hedman.
It’s not about who will score the most points anymore. It’s about who can you build a winning franchise with and around. You can score all the goals and points you want (in the extreme case like McDavid) but at the end of the season it’s not the singular factor in what builds a winning team anymore.
I am not talking about hype, just the scoring upside and type of player. But Zetterberg is also a comp for Stenberg.
Kane did score 62 goals and 145 points, but in his age 17-18 season.
Mckenna had 129 points in the WHL in his age 16-17 Season. He was over 1 year younger. Its hard to compare his NCAA season to Kane last OHL season.I am not advocating for anyone, my comments are on just what I feel the Leafs will do. But ultimately I have no idea, Chayka can be a wild card sometimes.
Iv consumed a bunch of draft content, and to me I think the Leafs take Mckenna. Its close
The comps are like picking Patrick Kane/Panerin vs Tim Stutzle /Lucas Raymond
not perfect comps but you get the ideaLosing Pridham might have bothered me a few years ago, but teams all have capable cap experts, its not the advantage it used to be.
Also, you can say while having his expertise, it did nothing. they won fuck all so *shrug*New GM means nothing if he builds a shit team. New coach means nothing if Matthews isn’t part of the hiring process. #1 pick means nothing if he doesn’t turn them into a contender instantly (he won’t).
Matthews certainly isn’t acting or speaking like it yet. And it seems like his agent and McDavid’s agent want them both to be UFAs at the same time and for the other to sign first to set a new bar of highest paid.
I just mean for the perception the players have, like AM will see it as making changes to “improve”
whether they do or not on the ice, isnt the point.Chayka doesnt seem to sit on stuff. at least he didnt in his first go round as GM. Id suspect if he doesnt re-sign AM, he trades him and doesnt Marner it up.
But new GM, new coach, new shiny #1 pick. My bet is AM signs another deal with the Leafs
Leafs have time to keep Matthews for this coming season, new coach. his 2 worst seasons were with Berube.
Leafs TDL Roy, Mcmann etc all went and were impactful. Berube…prob might be one of the worst coaches.at min build AM value back up. if they do end up deciding to trade him, but im not convinced that happens.
