The Toronto Maple Leafs received some good news on Friday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs must be happy with the recent news that the provincial government has given the AHL approval to begin playing hockey games in Ontario. Most of the Leafs prospects have been in limbo recently, not practicing with the big team and no games to play with the Toronto Marlies.
Toronto’s prospects have been inactive for almost a year now which has obviously been hindering their development so this is great news for the entire organization.
The Leafs are in win now mode, so it is difficult to find time for their prospects with the big club. Toronto recently called Timothy Liljegren up from the taxi squad to get in some reps with the team. Other than one or two practices and the short preseason Liljegren, arguably one of their more important prospects, has not seen any ice time since March of last year.
Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects to Get Back on the Ice
Rasmus Sandin, who is their number one prospect, has been able to practice with the team throughout this season but a return to action with the Marlies will be huge for him. To be able to play multiple games a week, log over 20 minutes of ice time per game, and hopefully dominate the league will be imperative for his development.
The AHL, just like the NHL, is doing an all Canadian division that will only play within their own division. The Toronto Marlies will see a lot of Manitoba Moose, Belleville Senators, Laval Rocket and Stockton Heat. ( courtesy of AHL.com )
You can probably guess which NHL teams they belong to but just in case it is not that obvious they are respectively with Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames. The other two Canadian teams, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks, have their AHL affiliate in the U.S. and they have been playing games already.
Having their AHL affiliate so close and being able to move players to and from the Marlies has always been somewhat of an advantage for the Toronto Maple Leafs. This season it will be an even bigger advantage with Edmonton and Vancouver unable to send prospects up and down without having to sit out a couple of weeks to quarantine.
I expect the Maple Leafs to take full advantage of this and use it to bring prospects up to the team to try to catch up on the missed development time. These young players have likely never taken this much time off from hockey since they began playing so it will be interesting to see how they respond when they return.
I always enjoyed watching the Toronto Marlies play. In dark times it was actually more entertaining to watch them over the struggling Maple Leafs. Now that the prospects of five years ago are leading the Maple Leafs to prominence, particularly this season, it will interesting to watch the current prospects to see their development.
Guys like Mac Hollowell and Joseph Duszak could play important roles on the Maple Leafs blue line five years from now. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Mikhail Abramov and Filip Hallander (Hallander was acquired from Pittsburgh in the Kasperi Kapanen trade) have incredible skill and are already dazzling to watch. And Toronto’s goaltending prospects Joseph Woll and Ian Scott can continue their development towards being the Maple Leafs goalie of the future. ( referenced from capfriendly.com )
The commencement of the AHL season is another step on the road back to normalcy, so I could not help but get excited by this news. It may not have a huge impact on the Toronto Maple Leafs this season but it does have long term implications for the entire league. The Toronto Marlies kick off the season this Monday night against the Manitoba Moose and I will be watching that game closely.
I am looking for these young guys to come out and put their skill on full display and hopefully make up for some lost time. And if Rasmus Sandin ends up spending most of his time with the Marlies, look for some pure dominance from the young defenseman to get him prepared for full time duty with the Toronto Maple Leafs next season.