Toronto Maple Leafs Top 20 Young Leafs: No.17-20
NUMBER 17 – FRANK CORRADO
BY: CONOR PENISTON
The 17th ranked Young Toronto Maple Leafs player in the system, voted by the EditorInLeaf.com writers, is Frank Corrado.
The 23-year-old Toronto native was selected 150th overall in the 2011 draft by the Vancouver Canucks. Having not featured prominently in the Canucks organization, he spent a lot of time just east of Syracuse playing with the Utica Comets in the AHL.
Corrado was claimed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs on the 5th October 2015, and despite being a frequent early season healthy scratch, he finished the season strong, appearing in 35 games. This was 7 more than he had achieved in three season with the Canucks, playing in only 11% of the NHL games he was available for.
Frank Corrado does bring a lot to the table, including strong puck moving abilities, a heavy right-handed shot, and is especially effective on the power play pulling the strings.
This was clear last season, in a game against the Anaheim Ducks where he made a check at centre ice, breaks forward with speed picking up a rebound and on moving the puck to his backhand, he slots it top shelf. Frank Corrado has often shown these brief flashes of game breaking skill, but they are too few and far between to tell if he can ever consistently get there.
HockeysFuture describes his game:
"Corrado exhibits poise and control uncommon for a young defenseman. He has tremendous speed and closes gaps very well with it. He has strong recovery speed if he makes a gaffe with the puck. Corrado identifies simple plays and effectively sees them through. He can be counted on to move the puck safely out of the defensive zone."
There are however frailties to his game, his defensive zone coverage needs a lot of work, especially with Frederik Andersen needing some protection in his first few games. If Corrado doesn’t show any improvement in this area he will quickly be scratched by Babcock.
Another issue is his lack of point production in the NHL, 8 points in 67 games for a player whose asset is going forward and weakness is at the back is another worrying trait. If he can amass a similar number to his AHL days (39pts in 108 games) he might keep a roster spot.
What does the future hold for Frank Corrado from a Leafs perspective? At $600,000 for the season, he is worth the gamble, with potential still in him, it is an affordable risk. He will however have to work very hard at his defensive side of the game, especially with the talent of attacking D-Men at Babcock’s disposal. More than worthy of his spot inside our Top 20 Young Leafs rankings, he must improve in order to stay here though.