Toronto Maple Leafs: Marlies Defence Report Cards

What’s left to say about the Toronto Maple Leafs?

They’ve officially clinched a playoff spot, Travis Dermott‘s foot mercifully remains in one piece, and we’re now just running out the clock until the playoffs begin.

A few minutes down the road, the Toronto Marlies are wrapping up one of their most successful seasons in franchise history. So, before the playoffs begin, I thought I’d outline how each player has performed individually.

Let’s start with the blueline.

Timothy Liljegren

Grade: A-

I could fill an entire Harry Potter-length novel opining about how talented Timothy Liljegren is.

Although to avoid redundancy, I’ll use the approach most teachers did with me, and focus primarily on his areas of improvement.

Watching Liljegren operate in the offensive zone is a double-edged sword.

On one hand, his puck-moving ability is eye-popping. Employing an aggressive approach from the point, he draws opposing defenders with him, which gifts his teammates with ample open space to strike from.

On the other, Liljegren forces far too many shots from the point. His wrister is lethal, there’s no denying that, but it’s a decidedly low percentage play in the AHL. Most teams at that level deploy a defensive strategy reliant on clogging the slot to eliminate long distance shooting lanes.

Liljegren repeatedly attempts to weave around this, leaving him vulnerable to an odd-man rush on the likely chance his shot is blocked.

As is the case with any teenager, he’s not perfect.

Although, and I’ll say this again, I saw Liljegren’s North American debut at September’s Rookie Tournament with my own two eyes. To this day, it remains the worst game I’ve ever seen a defenceman play live.

The player standing before us today is completely different than the one from September.

Taking such significant strides in such a short period of time reveals Liljegren’s most successful attribute. No, it’s his skating or shot, but how quickly he adapts to his surroundings.

With another year of added size and top-four minutes, Liljegren may enter the Leafs lineup as the RHD they’ve been in search of for the better part of a decade.

Calle Rosen

Grade: B

Following four underwhelming games with the Leafs in October, Calle Rosen joined the Marlies shrouded in question marks.

“Does he have an NHL future?” “Will he ever develop a two-way game?” “Can he offer more than just silky smooth skating?”

While some of those questions remain unanswered, the good certainly outweighs the bad. As I’ve previously covered, Rosen’s most successful trait is shot generation.

His 150 shots put him tops amongst all Marlies, one above Chris Mueller‘s 149. Rosen, a defenceman, out-shot Mueller, a top-six forward, in 12 fewer games.

Like Liljegren, Rosen’s shot generation opens up potential problems as well.

Turnovers at the offensive blueline have become far too routine, an aspect of his game the 24-year-old should have ironed out by now.

In his own zone, Rosen was regularly outmuscled by opposing forwards, causing defensive struggles for the first half of the season. Panicking when pressured, he’d either dump the puck off immediately, forfeiting possession, or hold it for far too long, leading to sequences like the one below.

Once the calendar flipped to 2018, Rosen tentatively found his stride.

Using increased patience, he’s now carrying the puck with more presence, producing offensively as his historically low shooting percentage begins to even out.

Will Rosen ever be an NHLer? Maybe. Although, with their abundance of left-side options, it almost certainly won’t be with the Leafs.

For now, he’ll need to build upon his upward trajectory entering the playoffs.

Martin Marincin

Grade: B-

It’s mind-boggling to remember that, just 12 short months ago, Martin Marincin was logging top-four minutes for the Leafs in the playoffs.

How far we’ve come.

In a stunning turn of events, his first 15 games in a Marlies uniform were so successful, it led those following him to believe he’d turned a corner.

Marincin suddenly began producing offensively, rushing the puck with confidence and overall looking far more comfortable on Ricoh ice than he ever did at the ACC. Sheldon Keefe was putting his veteran defenceman in positions tailored specifically to challenge him, with Marincin rewarding him for it.

Since then, he’s been largely…meh.

His strengths, namely the ability to prevent opposing zone entries, remain apparent. If you want to enter the Marlies zone with Marincin on the ice, you’re going to have a bad time.

Alas, Classic Marincin™ has reared his ugly head lately, bringing with him the mind-numbing turnovers which caused his AHL demotion in the first place.

Marincin’s 18 points in 48 games are respectable, albeit not enough to force his name back into the conversation for a promotion.

In fact, this season may have revealed the extent of Marincin’s ceiling. By all accounts he may top out as a top-four AHL defender capable of logging bottom pairing minutes for a defensively-starved NHL team.

Andreas Borgman

Grade: B-

Some nights, Andreas Borgman is a big fish in a small pond.

He’ll dominate physically, neutralizing opponents off the rush while using his punishing shot to great effect. I mean, any player capable of scoring a goal like this clearly possesses the traits necessary to succeed at the NHL level.

Other nights, he looks positively mortal, never fully engaged in the play and routinely losing puck battles to opponents far below his talent bracket.

Such inconsistency withholds Borgman from a higher grade, and, possibly, a promotion.

I spoke to Keefe about Borgman’s recent output following the Marlies 5-1 victory over the Laval Rocket on March 28th, and his thoughts mirrored my own.

"We think he’s coming. I don’t think he’s playing at the level he’s capable of. We’ve been meeting frequently but recently just talking about that. We think he can be better. It’s tough mentally when you come down from the NHL. We’re just hoping he can clear his head a little bit and get back to playing."

We often ignore the mental toll a demotion takes on a player, and Borgman’s no different.

On a positive note, he’s fit seamlessly into a Marlies penalty kill sitting atop the AHL. Mike Babcock made it abundantly clear to Borgman that he was sent down specifically to add a penalty killing aspect to his game.

So far, the results are promising.

As the playoffs approach, Borgman has the perfect opportunity to prove he’s a part of the Leafs long-term future moving forward. To do that, he’ll need to look like a big fish more often than not.

Justin Holl

Grade: B 

Justin Holl‘s season can be split up into two distinct periods: before he took a puck to the face, and after he took a puck to the face.

During the former, Holl was an All-Star, forming one half of the Marlies most reliable defensive pairing alongside Rinat Valiev.

He would act almost like a fourth forward, routinely creeping down from the point to overwhelm opposing defences, knowing his defensively-inclined partner had him covered.

Then, on February 11th, Holl took a puck to the face, sidelining him until the 28th. The Holl who returned seemed far more hesitant, less willing to engage offensively and content with letting the play come to him.

This isn’t to say he’s been bad. 

In fact, Holl continues to operate as a fixture of the Marlies top-four and an integral part of their lineup. He just hasn’t risen back to the level that earned him a trip to the AHL All-Star Classic in late January.

Regardless, Holl has successfully out-produced his offensive totals from last season in just 56 games, the majority of which coming at even strength.

A right-handed defenceman, the 26-year-old remains an intriguing asset within the Leafs organization.

Andrew Nielsen

Grade: C-

If I had written these report cards two weeks ago, this grade would almost certainly be a full letter grade lower. Andrew Nielsen may currently be playing his best hockey of the season, but his overall struggles cannot be ignored.

Without a doubt, the sophomore has taken a sizeable step backwards in 2017-18.

As an offensive defenseman, he’s managed to produce a mere 20 points in 60 games, despite logging ample power play time for the majority of the year. His 132 penalty minutes(!) are far and away the highest on the Marlies, more than double Rich Clune‘s 63, the next closest total.

Most notably, his play in his own end is downright abysmal.

For a stretch of games in December, Nielsen routinely committed at least one unforced turnover which landed directly right on the stick of an opponent. Frankly, it was tough to watch.

Now, it’s important to remember Nielsen is just 21-years-old.

He possesses a wicked shot, good offensive instincts and a dominating physical frame. There’s certainly time to go all scorched earth on his bad habits, but the clock is ticking.

Unfortunately, fellow right-handers, Holl and Liljegren, have seemingly leapfrogged Nielsen on the organization’s depth chart. Once lumped together with Dermott, Nielsen has since remained stagnant while those around him have risen.

A successful playoff run would do wonders to erase the sour taste left by his regular season. As of now, however, Nielsen’s stock is crashing faster than Facebook’s.

Vincent LoVerde

Grade: B

The real Vincent LoVerde is back.

Relegated to a bottom-pairing role for most of the season, Dermott and Valiev’s departures have LoVerde looking like the defenseman who captained the Ontario Reign to a Calder Cup in 2015-16.

He’s unleashing his above-average shot, chipping in offensively and looking far more at home than he did prior to the calendar change.

LoVerde’s chosen the perfect time to step up. The Marlies will be in dire need of an effective RHD entering the playoffs. Lately, he’s been their man.

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