3 Marlies who will make Toronto Maple Leafs lineup
The Toronto Maple Leafs will need help from the Toronto Marlies this year for some depth additions. As always, the Toronto Maple Leafs will look to the Toronto Marlies for reinforcements, as the team gets ready for another season.
For the past half-decade, ever since Kyle Dubas joined the team, the Marlies have served as a huge developmental piece to the Leafs. Obviously, prior to his arrival, there were players who played in the AHL who transitioned to the NHL, but it was never taken as serious as it is today.
Securing draft picks and having a large prospect pool is important, but the biggest piece is development. You can have all of the best draft picks in the world, but without a good system and strong developmental staff, those players may never reach their highest potential.
On the current roster, players such as Pierre Engvall, Justin Holl, Timothy Lijegren, Rasmus Sandin and William Nylander have been a beneficiary of the AHL and their time with the Marlies were very valuable to their NHL success.
The Marlies team from 2015-2018 led by Sheldon Keefe was a juggernaut, which propelled many AHLers into full-time NHLers all across the league. Although the team isn’t as strong as it once was, there are still a number of great up-and-coming prospects who are getting ready to make the leap.
Here are three Toronto Marlies who should make the Toronto Maple Leafs roster this season.
No. 1: Joey Anderson
The Leafs traded Andreas Johnsson because of the salary cap, but in doing so, they may have found a future NHLer for a quarter of the price in Joey Anderson. Anderson is 24-years-old but only has 58 career NHL games under his belt. Since being drafted in 2016, he hasn’t been given much of a chance, but he now seems ready to make that leap full-time.
Anderson is a right-winger, which doesn’t help his chances with the Leafs, as they’re strong at that position, but he still could find himself on the third or fourth line if he performs well at training camp. Although he wasn’t known for his offensive outburst throughout his career, Anderson scored 26 goals in 56 games last year, showing everyone that he’s improved that facet of his game.
His best attribute is that he’s an agitator and someone who gets under the skin of his opponents, so that feistiness could be helpful on a Leafs’ roster that doesn’t have a ton of it. Instead of Kyle Clifford or Wayne Simmonds, Anderson could be a welcomed sight in the team’s bottom-six, who could play a shutdown role but also score.
No. 2: Nick Robertson
20-years-old is still very young for a player to make a difference at the NHL-level, but Leafs fans everywhere want to finally see what Nick Robertson is made of. Injuries and the pandemic have really halted Robertson’s development, but ever since he scored 55 goals in 46 games in his last year of junior, fans have been dying to see what he can do with the Leafs.
If Robertson is going to make the leap to the NHL this year, they can’t put him on the fourth-line. Nothing good will happen to his development if he’s playing eight minutes per night and isn’t in a scoring opportunity.
As a skilled player, Robertson needs to play with other skilled guys and see if he can keep up. Robertson should be given the chance to play with John Tavares and William Nylander, or Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on the top-six for the first 20 games of the 2022-23 season and see if he can score. If Michael Bunting can be a 20-goal scorer, Robertson should be able to double that in the NHL playing alongside such skill, so it’s time to see if he fits.
No. 3: Alex Steeves
Steeves played in three games with the Leafs last year and although he only had one assist, he showed what he’s capable of. After suffering an injury during training camp, Steeves came back strong and was one of the best offensive players on the Marlies last year. In 58 games, he scored 23 goals and had 46 points, which were both third on the team.
After playing with Notre Dame in the NCAA, Steeves was a highly-touted prospect and the Leafs were lucky to sign him, as he had many suitors. His best attribute is definitely his offensive upside, as he was a great scorer in college, especially 5v5.
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The left-shooting 22-year-old can play wing or centre, but with the Leafs, he’ll probably be best suited on the wing. Depending on how the roster shacks out, Steeves could find himself as the team’s fourth-line winger next year, who can help provide a little depth offense. Either way, expect Steeves to make a leap and push Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford out of their spots, as his offensive upside is way stronger than those veterans.