Editor In Leaf
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Maple Leafs Prospect Jeremy Bracco Lost In The Shadows

By Tim Chiasson

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Lost in the large shadow that the Toronto Maple Leafs cast, Kitchener Rangers forward – and Maple Leafs 2015 3rd round pick – Jeremy Bracco enjoyed a nice rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League.

Bracco, five-foot- ten, according to hockeydb.com, stands tall among the Toronto Maple Leafs prospects – but you wouldn’t know it given the coverage that Mitch Marner and the recent big club call-ups have been given.

Bracco started the season at Boston College amidst rampant speculation that he was going to end up in the OHL, only to head north of the border five games into his college hockey season. That decision was most likely made with the encouragement of the Toronto Maple Leafs front office staff.

How did Bracco do in his first season in Major Junior? Let’s take a look at his numbers at even strength compared to 4th overall pick Mitch Marner, 11th overall pick Lawson Crouse and potential top five pick this year Alexander Nylander. (Numbers from http://www.prospect-stats.com/)

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Bracco has some interesting stat lines, some very close to Marner, but hasn’t seen nearly the amount of recognition as his OHL counterpart. Now, if you look at the total stat line for points in all situations you’ll notice Marner absolutely destroys Bracco.

Compared to Crouse and Nylander – two players significantly more highly touted than Bracco – the 2015 third round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs does pretty well. Let’s stick with the Marner v. Bracco numbers for fun.

Consider this when observing those numbers: Marner Non-Powerplay Points – 52.9% of total, Bracco Non-Powerplay Points – 67.2% of total. There’s a significant difference in powerplay ice-time between the two. Again, not suggesting Bracco is better, or equal, than Mitch Marner. I’m simply highlighting some great work by an underrated prospect.

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The variance could go either way with Bracco’s eight less games than Marner but, for positive developmental argument’s sake, let’s consider a small up-tick. He finished the 2015-2016 season ahead of Marner in 5v5 goals per game and was very close in 5v5 primary points per game while playing less minutes at even strength.

Let’s also take into account the London Knights roster and the Kitchener Rangers roster, ignoring their team records and simply thinking linemates. Marner has the edge, which means more credit should be handed to Bracco than is given. A 64 point total in 49 games is easily overlooked in Major Junior, but when it’s broken down into situations the totals start to carry more weight.

I’ll be honest; I don’t care about powerplay numbers. I expect good players to do good things when the opposition has fewer players on the ice. I care more about what players can do at evens, and Bracco does things well at evens.

For all the “too small” talk that gets thrown around about Marner, Bracco hears nothing – and he stands an inch shorter. Given what he’s done in the OHL this year during the most valuable situation, 5v5, I think he deserves more credit than he’s received.

Now, this isn’t to take anything away from Marner, nor is it to say that Bracco is just as gifted; however, it should be noted that there’s a very good third round pick that seemingly has the tools to compete for a legitimate spot in the future with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

With Kyle Dubas heading the Maple Leafs analytics group behind the scenes Bracco is a player who won’t go unnoticed within the organization – and that’s a good thing.

Next: Leafs Team Toughness (Or Lack Thereof)

The “small” narrative should no longer be a topic of conversation in the NHL these days given that the shift toward talent-first hockey players is in full swing. Jeremy Bracco’s development took great strides this season in Kitchener and there should be a lot of excitement surrounding his sophomore year in the Ontario Hockey League for 2016-2017.

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