Toronto Maple Leafs: Rookie Tournament Takeaways Part Two

Believe it or not, there was indeed real life Toronto Maple Leafs hockey to consume in recent days.

As the rookie tournament kicked off this past Saturday, fans were able to glimpse the various degrees of progress made by their teams’ top prospects. The Leafs were no different.

Continuing along from Monday, enjoy part two of my thoughts on the weekend’s events.

Jeremy Bracco Looks Incredible

Jeremy Bracco‘s bread and butter has been, and forever will be, his ability as a playmaker.

Even in sporadic usage last season on the Marlies, Bracco’s tendency of consistently locating open teammates to feed them with perfectly timed passes, regardless of situation, continues to be what stands out from his largely successful rookie campaign.

In fact, visions of Bracco’s man advantage prowess on the half wall were reassuring in the face of postseason disappointment, enough to keep observers at bay while the 2015 second round pick found himself chained to the press box for the bulk of his team’s playoff run.

Bracco’s game is flawed, as is the case with every young asset, which is perfectly fine. For if we look back on Bracco’s development years later and point to the factor most responsible for pushing him to hockey’s highest level, his knack for perfectly distributing the puck will be it.

I say all this is to preface what comes next.

As Bracco hit the ice for the rookie tournament festivities over the weekend, not only were his full bouquet of strengths on full, glorious display, they had each seemingly gotten better.

Just look at this. Look at it and weep.

You can have all the skill in the world, all the physical tools capable of throwing hockey men into fits of cardiac arrest, but if you’re unable to harness them at game-speed into what resembles a productive package, none of that truly matters.

In Bracco’s case, his playmaking is impressive nevertheless, a phenomenal example of on-the-surface skill without a doubt, and yet it’s an acute on-ice vision that ascends his game to a higher level.

The kid sees things differently. To him, the game moves in slow motion.

Take the clip above, for example.

Entering the zone, Bracco displays the patience and wherewithal to take a step back, drawing two defenders towards him in the process (all while keeping an eye on a streaking Sean Durzi in the top corner of his peripherals) and then, in one fluid movement, threads the puck to Durzi in perfect stride, where it rests in the back of the net seconds later.

This is Bracco at the height of his powers, a player capable of somehow extracting offence from the husks of dead on arrival situations.

The scoresheet will credit him with a second assist, as it should. In the hands of practically any Leafs teammate, however? The play dies at the offensive blueline.

It’s a small sample size, meaning it’s important to take what you see with a grain of salt.

Or don’t. You officially have my permission to get excited.

Power Play

Aside from Carl Grundstrom, and even he’s still considered a long shot, no player who attended this year’s rookie tournament will vie for a spot on the Leafs out of training camp. At least not yet.

More than half the 30-man roster is still sifting their way through the junior ranks, a level the majority are expected to remain at for at least another year. The rest, and by my count it’s 8 or 9 names, will report to the Marlies.

It’s this group that I intend to focus on.

For all the offensive might housed within the 2017-18 Calder Cup Champion Marlies, and they had it by the boatload, their power play was dreadful. Horrible. At times, even, downright unwatchable.

To be completely honest with you, I’m still uncertain as to why.

It wasn’t personnel-related. In fact, the Marlies opened last season with an arsenal of weapons the likes of Kasperi Kapanen, Nikita Soshnikov, Travis Dermott, Kerby Rychel, Andreas Johnsson, etc, etc. Those are worldbeaters at the AHL level, an assembly of unprecedented depth that still managed to finish 14th in man-advantage efficiency, barely cracking the league’s upper half.

Which is why this sudden change in tone over the weekend comes as such a relief.

Bracco, Mason Marchment, Adam Brooks, Timothy Liljegren, and Brady Ferguson are the group of expected Marlies who spent various stretches of time on either PP unit, and, boy, they did not disappoint.

By and large, both units executed, with goals coming in bunches off the back of some nifty puck movement, but this is the rookie tournament. Goals are not a rare commodity. Rather, it was the collection of visible strides taken in a few lesser seen aspects of the play that truly communicated progress.

One of the most glaring weaknesses of the Marlies’ PP last season, perhaps even serving as the crux of their struggles, was just how inefficiently the team entered the offensive zone. Their neutral zone attack proved far too predictable and was soon exploited all to see in the Calder Cup final by the Texas Stars.

This was not a problem over the weekend.

With two defenders nipping at his heels, Liljegren astutely carved stretch pass after stretch pass through the neutral zone, directly onto the sticks of his wingers. This was undoubtedly refreshing as, a year ago, Marlies defenders would rather opt to circle back around the net, shaving 10-20 seconds off the clock in the process, than attempt a pass of such precision.

Not anymore.

Generating offensive zone entries on the man advantage at a higher and more consistent clip will be extremely vital to the Marlies’ success in the year to come. The pieces to succeed have always been there, they’ve only needed to be put together.

By all accounts, the rookie tournament was a thoroughly positive first step.

Thanks for reading!

Gifs & footage courtesy of RDS. 

Stats courtesy of theahl.com