The Toronto Maple Leafs have made two recent AHL callups.
Over the past two weeks, the Toronto Maple Leafs recalled two of their prospects. 2013 first rounder Frederik Gauthier, and 2015 second rounder Travis Dermott. Dermott made his NHL debut last night playing alongside of Roman Polak against the Vancouver Canucks and recorded his first NHL point, while Gauthier played on the fourth line alongside of Matt Martin and Connor Brown.
While Dermott’s ceiling is likely that of a top four defenseman, Gauthier will likely only ever be a fourth line, maybe third line centre at best.
Gauthier was a Good Pick
Now, in most situations fans would be calling players like these a bust, especially since Gauthier was taken in the first round, where teams hope to draft first line forwards or top pair defensemen. But it’s not fair to call Gauthier a bust. Here’s why:
The Leafs knew exactly what they were getting in Gauthier when they selected him at 21st overall. He wasn’t lighting up his respective league like most players from that draft class were, but he was touted as an excellent defensive forward who was hard to knock off the puck due to his size.
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Could the Leafs have drafted someone better at 21st instead of Gauthier? Sure. Andre Burakovsky, Shea Theodore, and Ryan Hartman were among the players selected after the Leafs’ pick. The beauty with Gauthier, however, is that he does all of the little things right. And if he’s developed right, he will most definitely make his mark as the Leafs’ fourth line centre. He has potential to be one of the better defensive centres in the league considering he’s already nailed a lot of aspects young centres usually struggle with such as defensive awareness and faceoff ability.
Why He Should Stay in the NHL
Usually when prospects are dominating the AHL on the scoresheet, they earn themselves a call-up to see how they perform in the big league. But that wasn’t the case for Gauthier. In fact, he only has eight points in 25 AHL games this season. But Leafs’ brass knows that his strengths aren’t found on the offensive side of the game, and they trust him enough to play the game style he’s comfortable with and improve the team defensively.
That’s what separates Gauthier from other first round picks and young prospects. Gauthier won’t light up the scoreboard in the NHL, but he should remain with the Maple Leafs simply due to his defensive game. In my opinion, he’s better than current Leafs’ fourth line centre Dominic Moore and he should be with the Leafs full time for the rest of the season.
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If not, then at the very least he should be a full timer for next season. His size and defensive awareness could be heavily relied on come playoff time.