Jeremy Bracco
Grade: A
At the season’s beginning, if you had told me I’d be handing Jeremy Bracco a year-end grade this high, I would’ve thought you were insane. By all accounts, Bracco’s rookie season seemed doomed from the start.
Thanks to a bout with mono, coupled with a summer shortened by the Memorial Cup, reports indicated Bracco had arrived at Leafs training camp in less than game shape. Speaking to those around the organization, they told me Bracco’s conditioning was a real problem.
A rookie winger in an organization stuffed to the gills with just that, Bracco desperately needed to make a positive first impression. Instead, he landed with a thud.
Fast forward to game 72, and Bracco’s early season struggles are nothing but a distant memory.
His 30 points place him sixth in team scoring, coming in just 48 games. As well, the 21-year-old remains a staple on the Marlies’ second PP unit, driving play off the wall.
On a team as skilled as the Marlies, that’s not an easy thing to do. Especially as a rookie.
Shades of Marner
I hesitate to draw comparisons between prospects and current players, but I can’t ignore how much Bracco reminds me of Mitch Marner. The two are small, speedy wingers who sense the game at an elevated speed. And, what Bracco lacks in Marner’s goal-scoring touch, he makes up for with heightened playmaking ability.
As my colleague Dylan Fremlin eloquently puts it:
In all seriousness, Bracco’s on-ice vision is incredible. The AHL is a league where defensive strategies centre around clogging passing lanes and openings in the offensive zone. In spite of this, Bracco’s passes almost always find an open teammate.
I mean, just look at this and tell me you don’t see shades of Marner.
Perhaps the most promising strides Bracco has taken in his first professional season came in his own end.
In most cases, high scoring wingers come out of Major Junior rarely exhibiting defensive prowess. Playing against inferior competition for the bulk of their lives, they’ve simply never been forced to adopt a defensive skillset.
Not Bracco. It took some massaging, but he now stands as a surprisingly capable two-way forward, exhibiting the defensive skill befitting of a player years his senior.
Bracco doesn’t accomplish this by throwing the body or grinding in front of the net. Instead, he uses positional awareness and an innate sense of where the play is going to eliminate gaps in coverage and squeeze opponents to the perimeter.
You simply cannot categorize Bracco’s rookie campaign as anything but a success. The Leafs found a gem in their 2015 second-round pick. If Bracco’s trajectory continues, he’s a Leaf sooner than later.