Toronto Maple Leafs: The Impacts of Professional Transition

When the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Rasmus Sandin with the 29th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, it left them with options.

Although he spent 2017-18 as a member of the OHL’s Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, Sandin’s future is unbound by the league’s bevvy of guidelines. A 1979 agreement between the CHL and NHL bars the former’s various alumni from turning pro until after their 20th birthday. Weird, I know.

It’s a rule whose sole intention is the talent preservation of Canada’s premier major junior conglomerate. And, like most NHL-related matters, it’s dumb, yet still makes a tiny bit of sense.

Sandin, however, is a walking loophole.

A native of Uppsala, Sweden, the 18-year-old spent 5 games with the SHL’s Rogle before joining the Greyhounds on loan. Those 5 games were all it took for Sandin to emancipate himself from the CHL’s snare, opening the door on his playing options for next season in the process.

Armed with a freedom unattainable to his Soo teammates, Sandin faces three distinct possibilities as to where he’ll be plying his craft.

Options

The first and most obvious avenue is a return to the Greyhounds.

In case you hadn’t heard, Kyle Dubas holds some deep roots in the Soo, what with having been a member of the organization since before hitting puberty and all. Knowing his first official draft pick as Leafs GM is under friendly supervision will comfort Dubas, who has more important matters to attend to this summer.

Next, a jaunt back to Rogle is a possibility as well.

Time spent in the SHL pits Sandin against a nightly opposition of grown men while still keeping him at an arm’s length from home as well. Flights from Anghelholm (Rogle’s base) to Uppsala last roughly only an hour in length. A commute barely long enough to warrant a flight at all.

Finally, Sandin’s most intriguing option rears its head.

Following in the footsteps of fellow countryman and first-rounder Timothy Liljegren, he could indeed stroll 20 minutes down Lakeshore from the Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena and join the Toronto Marlies. 

This scenario brings with it a fair share of pros and cons. And, while the brunt of focus is on the on-ice impacts of Sandin’s exposure to the professional game, there’s more to consider than just that.

In fact, the off-ice implications may be the most important of all.

Personal Development

Amid the insanity of draft and free agency, it’s easy to forget that these prospects are more than binary bargaining chips. They’re people first.

Imagine, for a moment, the degree of upheaval a prospect’s life undergoes following his draft.

Immediately whisked away to a bounty of developmental and prospect camps, the establishment of a routine becomes next to impossible. In an instant, the kid’s future now rests in hands that aren’t his own.

Everything is uncertain for a young man who, deep into adolescence, craves certainty.

This goes lengths to explain why the majority of European-born prospects opt for a return home to develop. In the years to come, simple everyday aspects will be no more. Aspects like having a parent or guardian on hand to complete meandering tasks like laundry and cooking meals.

Such a mentality works in the other direction as well.

With living overseas practically an inevitable event, especially for a first-rounder, kickstarting the acclimation process right away carries its own benefits.

Professional Life

The underlying goal of any draftee is to make the NHL. Therefore, conquering the various tribulations faced during life as a professional athlete from the outset gives you an edge.

Now in your second training camp, proving to management that you’re ready for the big leagues is a far easier accomplishment with a year of experience in the pro ranks already under your belt.

Having mastered the plethora of time management, organization and maturity hurdles from the season prior, focus can now be shifted entirely towards on-ice improvement.

From there, outside distractions cease to exist.

And, as fellow draftees who opted instead for another crack at junior begin entering camp, adopting a quasi-leadership role could be the path you take. Now, teenagers leading teenagers may sound like John Mulaney’s bit on horses babysitting dogs.

But make no mistake, coaches notice these things.

Support System

The benefits of a professional transition so early hinge on how present the team in question’s effective support system is. An aspect the Marlies have heavily invested in under Dubas.

Colin Greening and Rich Clune are paid NHL salaries to remain with the Marlies for a reason. Aside from still being serviceable AHL contributors, these vets each play vital roles in the transition process of their organization’s prospects. With the latter undoubtedly at the forefront.

Clune’s expertise lies in the physical and mental aspects of the professional game. An avid gym rat, he grabs hold of the rookies and sets the bar for all workout-related activities from day one.

Basically, if Clune is in the gym, you better be too.

This intense focus on personal fitness is extremely beneficial to youngsters whose bodies may still harbour baby fat. In the CHL, skating by on skill alone is easy, an aspect afforded by competing against kids at varying stages in their own physical development.

Entering the pros, however, conditioning sets you apart.

Maturity

Take Jeremy Bracco, for example.

By all accounts, Bracco is a prime example of a prospect with all the skill in the world, and the resume to back it up. Quite literally, the 2015 second-round pick wins wherever he goes. Be it a Memorial Cup with the Windsor Spitfires, a World Junior gold medal for Team USA, or, most recently, a Calder Cup with the Marlies, Bracco carries with him a pedigree of success.

Which makes the rockiness of his first Marlies training camp all the more notable.

Hampered by a Memorial Cup-shortened summer, Bracco reported to camp in rough shape. So, going off the little I gathered from team officials, Leafs management was, to put it gently, less than pleased with their unprepared rookie. And deservedly so.

Showing up to a pro camp in anything but peak physical condition is simply unacceptable.

Healthy scratched for the Marlies’ first handful of games, Bracco’s future looked bleak. That is, until Clune got his hands on him. As first detailed in a piece from The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, Clune pushed Bracco both on and off the ice, operating as the kid’s mentor rather than trainer.

For the majority of young adults, important messages are received far quicker coming from a peer than an authority figure. Clune managed to toe that line perfectly.

As the season wore on, the fruits of Bracco’s labour began paying off. The 21-year-old finished the year with 32 points in 50 games, punctuating it with a stretch of 14 points in 11 games to boot.

Moving forward, Clune’s role in the support system has armed with Bracco with the tools necessary to succeed as a professional. Tools any young player are required to obtain.

Sandin’s Future

Looping back to Sandin, it’s vitally important that his next step be the best possible for his development.

Applying an overriding process to prospects who each need their own distinct blueprints is impractical. I could list out the benefits of a Marlies stint for days. But, were Sandin proven to learn better when surrounded by family and country people, it wouldn’t matter. If returning to Sweden suits him best, that’s the avenue he should take.

Luckily, Kyle Dubas has a finger accurately fixed on the pulse of decisions like these.

Not only did he recognize the personal benefits of joining the pro ranks before hitting Canada’s legal drinking age. He has, in turn, established a support system geared towards maximizing said benefits to the nth degree.

Regardless, wherever Sandin goes, his future is anything but uncertain.

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