Impressions made by any of the 42 youngsters on the ice at the MasterCard Center may not translate to any success at the NHL level in the short term, but a few eyebrows were raised at Tuesday's Blue-And-White scrimmage in Etobicoke.
Maple Leafs 2012 first-round pick Morgan Rielly got his first taste of action in a Leafs uniform and appeared tentative in the first of two 25 minute scrimmages, but in the latter half appeared more confident and attempted to create more offensive chances with his skating ability and creativity.
2011 draft picks Tyler Biggs and David “Brolldozer” Broll dropped the gloves 3 seconds into the festivities and later Broll had a second tête-à-tête with German free-agent David Wolf.
At last year's prospect camp, Plymouth's Mitchell Heard was the free agent invitee that opened the most eyes and earned another look Toronto's rookie training camp, which translated into a successful OHL campaign and being selected by Colorado in the second round as a 20-year-old. This seasons Heard could be winger Adam Hughesman, who scored 50 goals for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans as an overage Junior and looked sharp scoring a goal and generating a number of other chances.
2010 third round pick Greg McKegg scored two goals and continues to be the one of the organization’s better prospects, but needs to build on this success in junior and impressive performances at the last two training camps to make the jump to the NHL in the near future.
Leafs director of player development Jim Hughes believes that the 20-year-old has the tools to be a successful pro, if only if he works hard on the wanting aspects of his game.
“He’s intelligent, he's gifted offensively and we know that about him, now we've just got to continue to improve his skating….more power, more explosion, more quickness, but he certainly has the hockey sense and we saw that again today.”
Hughes was also impressed with 2010 fourth rounder Petter Granberg, who is expected to stay in Sweden for another year of experience.
“You can see that he plays with great patience and positioning. (Former New York Ranger) Jan Erixon is one of his coaches over in Sweden and you can see that he is well schooled, he understands the position and moves the puck intelligently and he is a big strong kid now.”
The club will scrimmage the next two days at the MasterCard Center, as well as working with new skating coach Barbara Underhill, who put the youngsters through about an hour of skating drills after the scrimmage.
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Restricted free agent defenseman Cody Franson was not overly enthused with his playing time in his first season with Toronto and may be trying to send signals to GM Brian Burke that he either wants a bigger role or wants to be moved before next season.
The 24-year-old defenseman scored five goals and 16 assists in 57 games last season and received a qualifying offer from Toronto, 10% above his 2012 salary of $800,000, but is unsure of his standing in the organization, in spite of the departure of blueliner Luke Schenn.
Franson, who boasts a booming shot from the point, only saw occasional time on the Leafs power-play, behind the combo of John-Michael Liles, Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson and was mostly relegated to third pair defensive duties for the season.
With AHLer’s Korbinian Holzer and Jesse Blacker pushing to make the big club as soon as next season, Franson could be one of the potential pieces to be moved over the summer in a trade for a goaltender or size up the middle that GM Brian Burke is looking for.
Happy 236th Independence Day, USA!!!
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