Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Sam Carrick

Every week throughout the NHL season and off-season, we will be updating you on the development, potential and realistic expectations for key Toronto Maple Leafs prospects with up-to-date stats, analysis and scouting reports.

Highlight videos are always about all the offence, but it does a good job of highlighting Sam Carrick’s toughness, team first mentality and penchant for driving the net. He will drop the gloves to defend his teammates and isn’t afraid of physical, grind-it-out hockey.

For the next few weeks, to get us through the post-season as teams not named the Leafs chase Lord Stanley’s Cup – we will be looking specifically at prospects ready to make the jump to the NHL and the Leafs NEXT season. Sam Carrick, is definitely one of the players who is ready.

Getting to Know: Sam Carrick

Age: 23

Position: Center

Height / Weight: 6 foot / 188lbs

Shoots: Right

Drafted: 2010 NHL Entry Draft, 5th Round, 144th Overall, Toronto Maple Leafs

Contract Status: RFA as of July 1st 2015

League / Team: AHL / Toronto Marlies

2014-15 Stat Line: 56GP – 8G – 18A – 26PTS – 108PIM – Minus 4

Sam Carrick may not be the first prospect that jumps to your mind when you think of the Leafs, but he may be the most NHL ready. The gritty forward has a shorter, stocky frame and lives to mess it up in the corners. He is the kind of hard-nosed, hard-working forward that as Leaf fans we always seem to fall in love with.

It certainly helps that with his above average hockey IQ, he always seems to be able to put himself in scoring positions on the fore-check. To clarify, Sam Carrick will probably never be a 20 goal scorer in the NHL. He will probably never play more than 12-15 minutes a night in a bottom 6 role and he will probably never win any personal hardware, or lead his team in scoring. What Sam Carrick will do is give every ounce of blood, sweat and tears that he has to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

You need someone to fight? He will drop the gloves, no matter his opponents size advantage. You need a player to kill penalties and take a physical beating to keep the puck out of our net in the dying seconds of the game? He’ll be the first one over the boards. You need a strong fore-check to set up some offensive zone time? Sam Carrick is your guy.

Hockeysfuture.com has a tidy summary of his talent;

"Carrick is a stocky, hard nose player with an offensive touch. He can be a pain to play against, is a capable player at both ends of the ice and is a willing physical combatant. Carrick’s skating requires attention, but his hockey smarts allow him to get in good position on the ice. He can play in a variety of roles."

Sam Carrick had a brief call up to the Leafs this season, where in 16 games he scored 2 points (including his first NHL goal), while posting 9PIM and a Plus 1 rating in a mostly under-utilized 4th line role. While realistically the 4th line will be his meal ticket in the NHL, Sam Carrick is a responsible defensive player that can set up and keep up a fore-check and occasionally score goals.

He is exactly the kind of forward good playoff teams have filling their bottom 6. He is exactly the kind of player that Brendan Shanahan wants to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs and his “give-a-crap” meter is sky-high.

NHL Upside: Sam Carrick

Upside: 3rd Line Checking Forward – 15+G 30+Pts

Realistic Projection: Excellent 4th Line Energy Player and Penalty Kill Specialist

NHL Ready: Now – aka 2015-2016

NHL Player Comparable: a Matt Stajan type that fights

Next week we’ll continue to break down the Leaf’s prospect pipeline. Specifically, the prospects ready to make an impact with the Leafs next season.

As always, feel free to comment below or reach out to me on twitter @TorrinBatchelor as you can never have too many conversations about hockey in a day!

Next: Toronto Marlies Report

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