Toronto Maple Leafs: Marlies Power Rankings Part Five

Much has changed recently in how the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies conduct business.

You know the drill by now, right? If not, here’s a quick refresher.

• Rankings are comprised of the following criteria: role, value, immediate impact, and NHL potential. This means an effective AHL-lifer may place higher than a prospect RIGHT NOW, but only because their role is secured.
• The only players included are those listed on the Marlies roster as of August 18th. Guys like Travis Dermott, Justin Holl, and Andreas Johnsson won’t be on it.
• If you disagree, please tell me how wrong I am using the most profanity possible.

Alright, let’s hit the home stretch.

15. Adam Brooks

My in-depth dive into Adam Brooks‘ current position can be found here.

By all accounts, 2018-19 is shaping up to be a season of “make or break” magnitude for the 22-year-old sophomore, perhaps to a greater extent than any other prospect in the Leafs’ system.

Following a comically dismal start to his rookie year, where Brooks amassed just 7 points in his first 44 games and waited until New Year’s Eve for his first AHL goal, serious questions regarding his future in the Leafs organization began surfacing by February.

And who can blame them?

Brooks was a boy amongst men, appearing equal parts timid and uncomfortable in his first spin in the professional ranks despite reporting to Marlies camp months earlier on a cloud of notable hype.

The former-Regina Pat had just strung together a whopping 250 total points in 138 games across his previous two WHL seasons while nearly capturing his second consecutive Bob Clarke trophy for the WHL’s most outstanding player.

Brooks was riding high, and it wasn’t outside the realm of expectation for him to at least show a glimmer of his past success at the level above.

In fact, were it not for a brief promotion to first line wing alongside veterans Ben Smith and Chris Mueller, Brooks may not have even made this list at all. He really was that bad.

As he told me back in March, it was Smith and Mueller who resurrected Brooks’ trajectory during their 2 mid-season games together, seemingly endowing Brooks with the confidence and poise he’d been lacking up until that point.

Prior to that fateful stint, Brooks had routinely set up shop on the game’s perimeter, neglecting to throw himself into tight spaces and corners where offence usually follows. Suddenly, the switch flipped. Emboldened by this quasi-fresh start, Brooks’ newly discovered attention to detail rewarded his efforts with goals like this.

There’s no chance you’d have seen Brooks so deep in the slot back in November.

Real, tangible strides were being seen in his development, with Brooks eventually thrust into the role of centring a deadly Marlies fourth line which proved invaluable to the team’s run at Calder Cup glory.

For someone who had begun the year on its lowest possible note, Brooks somehow managed to end it on the inverse. That’s an impressive achievement in of itself.

This second-half surge is, as expected, fantastic news for Leafs management.

Outside of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Nazem Kadri lies a discernable and glaring lack of centre depth throughout the organization, making Brooks’ renaissance even more important to the position’s bottom line.

Brook is a notoriously slow starter, a habit he recognizes and will readily admit to himself. If his rookie campaign indeed served as the typical adjustment period dotting his career timeline, then the coming season may very well be the inevitable breakout.

Not to mention, Brooks can expect a marked increase in responsibility as well. With Miro Aaltonen returning to the KHL, a top-six centre role sits now ripe for the taking, with Brooks poised as the front-runner.

The wheels are in motion. Only Brooks can steer them where he wants them to go.

16. Mason Marchment

If you’ve been following these rankings from the beginning, you may have noticed a trend.

The Marlies love a reclamation project. They really do. Parsing through the Island of Misfit ECHL and Collegiate Toys™ for undervalued talent is something they’ve done countless times in the Kyle Dubas era and it happens to just really butter their collective biscuit.

Mason Marchment is one of those toys.

Brought in as an undrafted free agent in 2015, Marchment entered the Leafs organization at its lowest level, Orlando, and proceeded to launch an ascent up the depth chart that now, two years later, perches him near the top.

The kid has put certainly put in the work.

Skill-wise, Marchment possesses a number of enticing tools of which, if used in a cohesion manner, may just give the Leafs an exciting new asset to play with. Only, that’s a big “if'”.

Measuring in at 6’4 and tipping the scales at 201 pounds gives Marchment an awkward and lanky frame to work with, one lacking the necessary physical strength to contend with the rigours of the professional game over the course of a full season.

He’s raw, noticeably so, and after a full year against AHL competition, hasn’t quite figured out the true extent of his fullest capabilities.

Although, this should be expected from Marchment’s ilk.

Real talent is indeed at play, with a wicked shot and heightened offensive instincts making Marchment a constant scoring threat from a variety of areas on the ice. He’s unafraid to opposing rattle cages, neglecting to allow his lean frame to deter him from making a physical statement.

The clip above showcases exactly what makes Marchment so enticing.

In the span of 30 seconds, he manages to create a net-front screen which nearly leads to a goal, use his physicality to take a defender out of the play, and then immediately use that opening to sneak into an area to wire a shot home.

It’s all there, and like most prospects, is followed by a constant struggle to harness that talent consistently. Only, Marchment takes that to the extreme.

Inconsistency hampers his placement on this list, as while Marchment did put up a respectable 26 points in 44 games as a freshman, he struggled to produce offence on a continual basis as well, hampered by constant bouts with injury.

Until he puts it all together, the final portion of Marchment’s ascent will have to wait.

17. Vincent LoVerde

I’ve yet to meet a person with a bad word to say about Vincent LoVerde.

He’s a consummate professional, the perfect leader to oversee a talented but youthful Marlies blueline. Content to assume any role that benefits his team, LoVerde is the precise type of veteran any organization hopes to expose its pipeline too.

What lands LoVerde so low on this list is the possibility that, contingent on the landing spots of a collection of defence prospects, he may not actually be a full-time contributor in 2018-19.

Recent draftees Sean Durzi, Mac Hollowell, and Rasmus Sandin have yet to confirm where they intend on spending next season. Were they to end up choosing the Marlies, it’s far less harmful to send LoVerde to the press box than it would be for a developing asset.

A blueline rotation may be the endgame here, drastically reducing the veteran’s service time.

Yet, these are good problems to have.

LoVerde did take time to find his footing as a Marlie, eventually stabilizing to end the season with a respectable 21 points in 63 games, all while performing crucial duties on the AHL’s #1 ranked penalty kill.

Clearly, offence continues to live within the 29-year-old. LoVerde’s heavy point shot was a welcome addition to the Marlies’ back end in 2017-18 and became an early weapon on the man advantage as well.

Alas, it’s simply not possible to put LoVerde any higher knowing how likely it is for his role to decrease. Do not let the ranking fool you, however.

LoVerde is a valuable asset to this team, more so than any list can portray.

Thanks for reading. The 6th and final instalment drops soon.