The Cleveland Monsters have made it to the dance as the lowest ranked seed of the North Division playoffs. The luck of the draw gifted them the Toronto Marlies, the affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto has had a successful developmental system lately, including the success of Alex Steeves; Joseph Woll; Alex Nylander; Dakota Mermis; and Dennis Hildeby.
Columbus has had a better stockpile develop internally, including James Malatesta, Jordan Dumais, Denton Mateychuk, Mikael Pyyhita, and Luca Del Bel Belluz.
The injuries on the main roster for the Jackets and exodus of players in the last summer created more openings for new players to grow and help the new cast come into the organization.
Trey Fix-Wolansky continues to be the star down in Cleveland, as he is in the top 15 of league point scoring. Through two general managers and multiple coaches, he has not been able to stay on the main roster. Maybe his luck will come soon.
Projected Lineups
Toronto
Joesph Blandisi — shorthanded goals leader with 3 SHG. Logan Shaw Matthew Barbolini Marko Sikic Sam Stevens Ryan Kirwan Nick Abruzzese Roni Hirvonen Kyle Clifford Alex Steeves — 8th in regular season scoring with 36 goals and 26 assists; 62 points in 59 games. 36 was second in league goal scoring, only behind Matej Blumel of Texas. Brandon Baddock — penalty minutes leader with 97PIMs. Cedric Pare Jacob Quillan Luke Haymes Braeden Kressler Reese Johnson Zach Solow Ryan Tverberg Borya Valis Alex Nylander - was with Columbus last season after Emil Bemstrom trade; team worst -12. Robert Masteosimmone
Tommy Miller John Prokop Topi Niemela Cade Webber Nicolas Mattinen Matt Benning William Villeneuve — assist leader for Marlies with 36 in 55 games; also led in plus +17. Chas Sharpe Marshall Rifai Mikko Kokkonen
Matt Murray — best GAA @ 1.55GAA and save percentage at 0.934. Dennis Hildeby — wins leader with 17 Vyacheslav Peksa
Ryan Hardy General Manager John Gruden Head Coach Michael Dyck Assistant Coach Steve Sullivan Assistant Coach Hannu Toivonen Goaltending Coach Troy Paquette Video Coach
Cleveland Monsters
Luca Del Bel Belluz — leading goal scorer on club with 27 in season; plus leader with +6. James Malatesta Owen Sillinger Joseph LaBate Jr. Curtis Hall Dylan Gambrell Justin Pearson Stefan Matteau — Captain Ryland Mosley Roman Achan — SHG leader with 3. Hunter McKown Cameron Butler Gavin Brindley Luca Pinelli Trey Fix-Wolansky — leading team scorer; 13th best in league with 60 points; tied for lead in PPG with LDBB at 8. Mikael Pyyhita Jordan Dumais Rocco Grimaldi — leading assist producer; 18th in league scoring with 58 points. Max McCue — team leader in penalty minutes at 122 and worst minus at -11.
Will MacKinnon Corson Ceulemans Stanislav Svozil Madison Bowey Drew Bavro Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm Denton Mateychuk — team PPG leader at 0.93; AHL All Star. Samuel Knazko Daemon Hunt Guillaume Richard Cole Clayton — IOA man of the year
Pavel Cajan Evan Gardner Zach Sawchenko Jet Greaves
Chris Clark General Manager Trent Vogelhuber Head Coach Chris Bergeron Associate Coach Mark Letestu Assistant Coach Brad Thiessen Goaltending Coach Mike Monti Video Coach
Players to Watch
Toronto — Alex Steeves — leading point scorer
Cleveland — Trey Fix-Wolansky — leading point scorer
Predicted Final Score
TOR — 2
CLE — 3
2OT