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Ever since I became Managing Co-Editor of Editor in Leaf, I’ve marvelled at how active and engaging our comment section is. You guys are an inquisitive bunch and I love you for it.
The bulk of the questions I get happen to pertain to the Marlies, likely due to their lack of televised exposure and presence in the shadow of their parent club Leafs. And in response to yesterday’s piece, in which I speculated about the Marlies’ roster crunch, someone going by the username of “Kojac’s Cousin” asked me 4 important questions about the Baby Leafs’ start to the year.
So, I decided to answer them in article-form.
Enjoy, Kojac. Thanks for the content.
Question 1: I know Liljegren is hurt, but how is he coming along? Do you think he’ll become a good NHL defender? And if so, when?
Given just how successful Timothy Liljegren‘s rookie campaign turned out to be, pre-season expectations were pretty high for the young Swede as he embarked upon a second AHL spin.
Justifiably, too. The kid is good.
But this season was going to be different for Liljegren. Better, even.
As the departures of Justin Holl, Travis Dermott and Martin Marincin in the summer thinned out the Marlies’ previously herculean blueline depth and ushered in a newly-comprised back-end looking markedly different from the Calder Cup version of April past, these changes meant that a larger role awaited Liljegren in 2018-19. A role fans believed he’d slide into seamlessly.
The early returns, however, haven’t been quite as seamless 19 games in. Honestly, this should probably be expected, especially coming from a prospect with Liljegren’s history.
Keep in mind, this season is likely the first time both fans and reporters alike have witnessed a 100% healthy Liljegren play on North American ice. If you’ll recall, a vicious case of mononucleosis is what precipitated Liljegren’s draft day tumble in 2017 and dropped him out of the consensus top-5, therein allowing the Leafs to somehow nab him at 17th overall in an act of sheer fate.
Mono is not an insignificant illness. And recovering from it is far from a quick fix. Rather, it’s a gruelling and frustrating process – particularly so when the patient experiences it in conjunction with their introduction to professional hockey.
That’s what Liljegren went through as a rookie. Now finally healthy, the chains are off.
A prominent role on the PK, heavy minutes against top opponents, and a general uptick in responsibility have thus far been the main themes of his sophomore year. Sheldon Keefe, as he’s been well known to do with prospects, is certainly not shy about challenging Liljegren from the onset – forcing him to confront some complex on-ice situations that were previously completely foreign to him to relatively mixed results.
Naturally, there have been some hiccups.
You can clearly tell that Liljegren is still trying to adapt to a world in which the difficulty setting against him has now been cranked up a few notches. And that’s perfectly okay. His are the types of growing pains which justify their namesake.
Lilejegren’s initial stumbles, when contextualized by his usage, will inevitably lead to progression. It may even arrive sooner than later, in fact, given how quick of a learner Liljegren proved to be last year when acclimatizing to the smaller ice surface.
Above all, he’s still an enticing prospect with a bright future and tons of upside. Will he be ready for the NHL out of training camp next year? Likely not. But the 2019-20 season stretch run looks to be his target date of arrival at this juncture and it may be honestly for the best.
You should want your team’s prospects to be overripe before eventually reaching the big leagues. Just look at what an extended AHL stay did for the development of Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and the aforementioned Dermott.
Liljegren will be fine. Give him some time.
Question 2: If Gardiner is not re-signed and Dermott moves up to be the #2 LHD, can Rosen step in on the third pairing?
This is a good question.
Calle Rosen has likely been the Marlies’ best defenceman so far this season. There is no denying that. Not only are his 18 points in 21 games some incredibly impressive production from a blueliner, but Rosen’s ability to use either perfectly timed stretch passes or a fluid skating stride to move the puck has made him a clear favourite of Keefe’s as well.
The last player to fit that bill was Trevor Moore and he then earned a call-up not long after. Before Moore, Keefe’s unabashed favourite was none other than Travis Dermott.
So, Rosen is in some good company here.
Where I hesitate to pencil him into the Leafs third pairing next season is because I still believe there is more for Rosen to give.
Rosen was simply phenomenal throughout the Marlies’ 2018 playoff run. To label his performance then as game breaking would be an understatement and, without him, the Marlies absolutely do not win the Calder Cup. What Rosen needs to do to truly earn an NHL job is reach that post-season level again.
And while he’s certainly come close at points this year, he’s yet to have fully sustained it.
Rosen will assuredly be an NHL defenceman when all is said and done. I don’t doubt that. Whether or not that ends up being for the Leafs, however, depends on how the rest of his season plays out.
Question 3: I like Grundstrom. Will he be ready to slot in for Marleau when his contract is up?
With 17 points in 20 games, Carl Grundstrom is currently in the midst of what may be the quietest near point-per-game campaign I can remember.
Sure, his 7 goals put him on pace for a respectable 24-goal output and have him sitting fourth in Marlies’ scoring, but I still can’t quite shake the nagging feeling that Grundstrom’s performance to this point has been…underwhelming?
Grundstrom is at his best when he transforms into a bowling ball on skates. If you need proof, just watch clips of the Marlies’ second-round playoff series with the Syracuse Crunch. They’ll give you what you need.
Nevertheless, Grundstrom’s ability to wreak havoc in front of the net and use his strong centre of gravity to force turnovers along the boards is what makes him a terrifying on-ice presence for the opposition.
Only, at least to this point, Grundstrom hasn’t done too much of that.
Rather, he seems oddly inclined to roam the perimeter, something which goes heavily against Grundstrom’s primary skill set. Perhaps this is a conscious effort by Keefe to force Grundstrom to diversify his game. And if that actually ends up being the case, it’s worked quite well.
Before coming over to the Marlies in late 2018, you’d never catch Grundstrom with a stat line with more assists than goals. He just wasn’t a playmaker and a lack of facilitation became one of the foremost knocks on his game.
Forcing Grundstrom to the outer premiere works to remedy that – handing him more opportunity and space to actually survey the ice and find openings to set up his teammates, rather than merely banging in goals from the top of the crease.
And his assist numbers have followed suit. Grundstrom’s 10 assists this season are more than any of his prior totals at any level of hockey he’s ever played, North American or otherwise. And while this is undoubtedly a good thing, Grundstrom likely won’t be ready to step in for anyone on the Leafs until he’s found a way to successfully meld his typical wrecking ball style with a newfound appreciation for playmaking.
Keep an eye on him.
Question 4: Will Brooks or Bracco ever make it up?
I’m going to keep this one short, as both players have experienced up and down sophomore season thus far.
Jeremy Bracco needs to shoot. Badly. The number of prime scoring chances he seemingly gives up for fre in lieu of making a pass is maddening. Bracco will always be a pass-first player. It’s a style that has been ingrained deep within his muscle memory. But that doesn’t mean he can just abandon the act of shooting altogether.
Opponents have even started to key in on Bracco’s pass-happy tendencies more frequently and now just anticipate that he’ll opt for the pass whenever given the chance. That means a ton of odd-man rushes broken up by the opposition eliminating the passing lane, and a lot of fruitless power play opportunities snuffed out by simply collapsing the zone down low and forcing Bracco to shoot.
Bracco definitely has some very intriguing tools. But those tools won’t matter in the end if they end up being all he’s able to do.
Now, with Brooks, it’s tough to make a judgement on him.
The 22-year-old has only played in 10 games thanks to an injury he suffered in training camp which shelved him for the first month of the season before the discovery of an irregular heartbeat two games into his eventual return kept him out once more.
However, Brooks has looked good in his limited service time. Lining up in between Mason Marchment and Trevor Moore, the trio has become, hands down, the Marlies most effective and consistent line in 2018-19 and also appears to be the only one to have earned Keefe’s trust thus far.
A lot of that is thanks to Brooks. And while he certainly needs to bulk up in order to survive in the NHL, Brooks’ early returns have been promising.
Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!