Top 20 Maple Leafs Prospects 2018: #13 Calle Rosen

Amidst all the changing rankings between last years and this years rankings, especially in the teens, one thing managed to stay constant: Calle Rosen at the #13 spot. Yes, that’s right, despite a few prospects passing him, just as many fell below him, leaving him in the exact same spot as last year, according to all of our finest scouts (writers). He had an extremely brief stint in the NHL, before playing the rest of the season out in the AHL, starting off poorly, but really making a name for himself during the Marlies’ Calder Cup run.

Calle Rosen will be entering his second season in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, after signing with them during the summer last season. Before the Leafs, Rosen was a defenseman for the Vaxjo Lakers in the SHL for two full seasons years (and a brief stint in 2014-15), where he had 33 points in 96 games. While a solid total for a defenseman, points aren’t everything, and the Maple Leafs saw something in his game to lure him over to the NHL.

Despite being overlooked in all three drafts he was eligible for, he generated interest from both the Leafs and the Blackhawks, before signing with the Leafs.

Rosen has never really been one to put up a lot of points in his career, but it shows a lot of promise that one of his most productive seasons was last season with the Marlies, especially in the playoffs. This gives us a little bit of promise for his future, especially as he’s entering the prime of his career.

We also have an extremely small sample of his performance in the NHL, which saw him dress in four games and have one assist, and had a 58.62% 5v5 CF% and a 45.85% 5v5 xGF% with a 92.76 PDO. Again, really small sample size, so don’t read into these too much, but so far, he’s shown he can drive play. Whether that holds, we’ll have to find out with more games under his belt.

As mentioned before, he saw progress in his game throughout the year, and played a prominent role in the Toronto Marlies securing their Calder Cup. He was extremely effective for the team, and he had much better shooting luck as the playoffs rolled around, so the puck went in a lot more for him.

His brief stint in the NHL gave us *some* idea as to what he can bring to the club, but his performance in the AHL is probably a better sample to go off of going into next season.

I’d argue that we might have got a bit more out of him than we were expecting going into the season. He made the Leafs right out of training camp, even though it was short-lived, and had arguably his best season to date with the Marlies. Starting the season at 23, he’s beginning to reach the age where what we get from him is about what we should expect from him in the future, so a defenseman with a chance to add a bit of depth to the Leafs certainly isn’t a bad thing, especially since we got him for free.

Maybe that’s about what people were expecting from him, or maybe it was lower, but at the very least, I wouldn’t say he’s made any negative progress. If he’s still floating around the Marlies a year from now, this conversation will probably change a bit.

While they may not be similar in style, I’d compare Rosen to Marincin in terms of what to expect from them down the road. Marincin is never someone we expect to be at the top of the lineup, but maybe fill in the bottom pair, and be capable of playing bigger minutes if injury required it. That’s probably what we should expect from Rosen. He won’t be playing top pair minutes, but he’ll be a solid filler on the bottom pair for the team, at the very least.

If I were coaching the Maple Leafs, Rosen’s chances of making the Leafs would probably be a lot better. After Rielly, Gardiner, Dermott, and Carrick, the remaining two/three spots are wide open to Hainsey, Zaitsev, Marincin, Holl, Borgman, Ozhiganov, and Rosen, depending on who impresses in camp (although I’d probably lean towards Marincin, Holl, and maybe Zaitsev).

But, I’m not coaching the Leafs. Zaitsev has the whole Russia thing looming, and a long term deal, so he’s going to make the team, and Babs loves his veterans, so Hainsey’s basically a clinch as well. The only spot in the top six that I’d say is open for him is Carrick’s spot, but I’d imagine that Rosen is pretty low on the list to get it. Either he has a really impressive camp, and makes the team, or he spends another year in the AHL, and gets some time with the Leafs when injuries provide the opportunity for him.