Leafs Prospect Roundup: Kressler’s Game 7 heroics, Marlies end of season recap

“The three centres that we most primarily deployed were @Curtis Douglas, @Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, and @Mikhail Abramov. I looked before and they had played a combined 17 AHL games and they were carrying the mail for us down the middle.” – Ryan Hardy

“For Bobby [McMann] and Curtis [Douglas], it’s their work ethic and their mindset of wanting to get information from the staff and wanting to apply the information they are given. It’s a hunger to compete, a hunger to continue to grow, and a willingness to get better every day.” – Ryan Hardy

“[Curtis Douglas] came in here and had a lot of confidence early. He probably produced to a level I didn’t expect, I thought his offensive productivity was quite impressive . . . When you look at him and start to project what he could be, he’s a young kid, 22 years old with a 6-foot-8 body, so it’s going to be a few years before he fully grows into his body and becomes what he will be. If we can have patience with a player like that, when he gets to be 24 or 25 years old with all that he brings, he can be a tremendous asset to this organization.” – Ryan Hardy

“We had expected a couple more forwards to clear waivers and our team may have had a little bit of different makeup. Then with the injury to @Nicholas Robertson early, our team started to change. When I met with Bobby [McMann] early, I challenged him. I said “Hey, I love your work ethic, I love your mindset, I love the power you bring. I want you to evolve your game, make more east-west plays, and be a little more creative.” He got the opportunity to come back really quick and quite frankly, made me look a little foolish, so he and I have had a laugh about that a few times.” – Ryan Hardy

“[@Alex Steeves] did a really good job of problem-solving his way through the schedule, the season, and the workload. If he found himself in a bit of a dip or a very short slump, since he had a lot of production this year, he was quick to come out of it by asking the right questions, going through the right process of figuring out what was needed from himself, and if he wasn’t producing, how else he can have an impact on the hockey game.” – Greg Moore

“It’s tough when a player misses that much time due to an injury . . . Whether it’s skating or training by yourself, the days can feel long and monotonous and [Nick Robertson] did a good job of inserting himself back into our lineup and having a big impact.

Within his game, he always had his strong attributes, one thing he really elevated was his shot selection and choosing when and where to shoot the puck. It was a little more volume last year, just shooting from anywhere, which can be good at times given the situation and where he is on the ice, but he was a lot more selective in getting into the right areas, extending the possession to get those better looks and those higher quality chances, and I think it showed with his point production per game.” – Greg Moore

“[Semyon Der-Arguchintsev] was one of the most improved players of the year. Early in the season, he was getting used to the consistency, the pace of play, and the strength of the league. He started to put in a lot of work in the weight room and practice. The consistency of how hard he pushed himself to elevate physically and building strong habits started to show up in the second half of the year. [He was] way more competitive in game, really strong on pucks.

Obviously when he gets the puck through the middle of the rink he’s pretty special in what he can create and what he can do, how he can think off of his teammates, how he can make his teammates look really good with getting them the puck in really tight areas. It’s unfortunate he had a couple of injuries when he was gaining that momentum, but he put in a lot of good work this year and I’m really excited about the progress he made and where that can lead into next season.” – Greg Moore