TLN Top 20 Leafs Prospects Midterm Rankings: #15-#11

Goaltenders are difficult to judge so I’ll keep this brief, but Sparks is the most advanced Leafs goalie prospect in the system and has excellent social media game, which makes him Top 15 candidate. 

 

A strong .924 save percentage in 495 minutes with the Orlando Solar Bears makes up for a disappointing .891 save percentage in 295 minutes with the Toronto Marlies, but those are goalies and small samples. Limited playing time recently due to playing behind a strong Drew MacIntyre in Toronto, but goalies take longer anyway. – Cam Charron

 

Of all the Leafs prospects currently enjoying huge offensive seasons, Frolunda’s Andreas Johnson might be the one that excites me most. Despite cooling off considerably in the last month or so, Johnson still has 14 goals and 22 points in 35 games in his rookie SHL season. Those are some lofty numbers, good for third in team scoring, and first in SHL rookie scoring.

 

Johnson has impressed at the international level as well, scoring three goals, three assists in seven games for Team Sweden at this month’s IIHF World Junior Championships, a tournament in which Johnson was voted one of Sweden’s Best Players selected by tournament coaches. It’s too early to say if Johnson is the next late-round Swedish All-Star, but obviously Johnson is the next late-round Swedish All-Star. – Justin Fisher

 

There was a lot of questioning as to whether Petter Granberg could adjust to the smaller North American ice. So far, he seems to be doing just fine, proving to be one of the go-to defensive defencemen for the Toronto Marlies this year. With original partner John-Michael Liles now in Carolina, Granberg hasn’t had a ton of consistency next to him over the past month or so, but has stayed consistent. He gets an even share of minutes even strength, and is on the second penalty kill unit. – Jeffler

 

Here’s the summary of Tyler Biggs’ first half of the season: we were instructed by Justin (who put this little project together) that whoever had Biggs had to go easy on him. Being out in BC, I don’t have access to many Toronto Marlies games so can’t speak to what he’s done on the ice, but with just five points in 33 games, he’s in the middle of his third down offensive season since his draft year. Worse for Biggs is that he hasn’t been among the seemingly-endless revolving door of stopgap wingers that have been called up so far this season like Carter Ashton, Jamie Devane, Jerry D’Amigo, Josh Leivo or David Broll. 

 

It’s important to separate players from their draft position, or who they were traded for, but it’s difficult to be optimistic about Biggs considering how poor his boxcar numbers have been since being made the 22nd overall selection in 2011. As such, he’s fallen out of our top ten.

 

Carter Verhaeghe impressed this summer at rookie camp and the 2013 third round pick hasn’t slowed down since. At 6’1” with a frame that will eventually hold a lot more than his current 185 lbs., he has two-way player written all over him. 

 

There was originally some concern about Verhaeghe’s stride and, as a result, his offensive upside, but he’s really grown with greater opportunity in Niagara, scoring 59 points in 42 games so far. He’s also had eight three-plus point nights and has only gone pointless in back-to-back games three times. He’s still learning, of course, but he’s just 18 and has at least another full season to fill the holes. And his dog is named Mats, so how can you not love the guy already?