TLN Monday Mailbag: March 27th

I’m offering a cash money reward for whoever brings me the second half of William Nylander’s broken tooth. Okay, probably not, but I have no other lede for this prospect-heavy mailbag. Here are five questions!

Dermott has been incredibly impressive on the Marlies back-end this year, probably performing as their top all-around defencemen. He can contribute points, he can shut down opponents, he can get into the thick of physicality, and he many of the qualitative tools that you’d like to see out of a modern, mobile defenceman. I think it’s entirely possible that he compete for a slot at camp if the Leafs don’t immediately sign a third left pairing defenceman. Actually keeping the role is doubtful, but I’d then consider him to be a slam dunk choice in 2018/19.

Most of Nielsen’s impact comes on the powerplay. Not that he’s terrible at even strength, but there are a few Marlies who are more impactful for the bulk of the game. For Nielsen to be a sensible call up right now would likely require the Leafs to lose two of Gardiner, Zaitsev, and Rielly to injuries.

I’ve got a lot of time for Prairie Jesus. The 20-year old is obviously spending a lot more time in junior than most kids do, but seeing as it took him until his Age 18 year to get any sort of significant minutes, it’s understandable why the Leafs would want him to spend an extra year in the WHL. He’s certainly made the most of it, picking up 130 points in 66 regular season games., and five in two games in the playoffs for Regina so far.

Next year will undoubtedly be a Marlies year for him, with maybe parts of another to follow. I think he’ll be on a regular roster not much longer after that, though.

Expectations were high for Dmytro Timashov at the start of the year, as many knew the degree of potential he had contained in his stick. in 78 QMJHL regular season and playoff games in his Draft+1, the youngster put up 113 points. So when he struggled to contribute to the scoresheet with the Marlies, people were disappointed. But a lot of that was puck luck, and not being a powerplay ace. Since January, he’s started to have his production match his creativity; I’d bet on him being a significant contributor to the team next year.

I wouldn’t rule things out one way or another at this point. Whether I think it would be ideal? There’s a vague case for Hunwick, and next to none for Polak. I’m sure the team will look to see if they can add a higher profile name or two before wondering about getting depth-level defenders, though, which leans me towards this being their last year here.

Then again, we’ve assumed the end of the read for Polak a few times now, but alas..