2016 Top 25 under 25: #20-16 recap

His offensive game has been steady, he has a heavy and accurate shot & good vision to complement his play-making ability. He makes sure to make himself available for a pass through his ability to read the play.

I see a lot of positives in Tobias Lindberg. In my opinion he is one underrated player to keep your eye on for the 2016-17 season as he is bound to get a bigger role with some players graduating from the Marlies to the Maple Leafs.

He didn’t earn playoff minutes as I said. Kapanen was less than impressive against Bridgeport, who are a very bad team, and so was Lindberg, and when given the scratch treatment, it was Kapanen who came out hard and stayed very good throughout the playoffs. Lindberg just didn’t respond well.

As for points comparison to junior hockey, I think it’s meaningless to try to calculate number comparisons and apply a value of good or bad to it. He was top four on his team there, that’s not happening again. He’s not going to be a big goal scorer at higher levels of play. Period. He may become an effective player nonetheless.

Posted by KatyaKnappe

Lindberg is ummm…a hackey player. Is this how I get into the weekend summary?

Posted by The otters

Not entirely sure I get it with Dermott. Not great skater. Not that big. No big shot. Not an offensive wizard. Same age as Neilsen, smaller, scored less.

And as for him losing McDavid, I’m not sure playing behind Dylan Strome and Debrincat is any great poverty. In fact, that was the 3rd highest scoring team out of 20 in the OHL. But if his style is actually as strong as people say, then glad we have him, and let’s just keep feeding him ice-time.

Posted by not norm ullman

I’m having a hard time caring about Dermott simply because he’s a decent scoring OHLer with a two-way game and that meant nothing for Finn or Percy. As far as I can tell, junior scoring numbers just don’t correlate that well with pro level success. So I’m curious if Dermott does something differently that’ll help him get past the AHL, and if any of the evaluators who feel strongly about him could have seen red flags with Percy/Finn when they were rounding out their OHL careers.

Posted by scrambles the death dealer

I was really high on Finn after his final OHL season — just utterly dominant in both ends. Injuries and skating were his undoing (skating is also a concern, though not a huge one, with Dermott). He was better that year than Dermott has been at any point. All three fit into about the same tier as prospects. At 19, they looked like potential second pairing prospects at their best.

Posted by Scott Wheeler

Hyman over Leivo for me is saying that some on here prefer floor over a potential ceiling, no?

Posted by the_humourisironic

I think people vastly overrate the probability that guys like say, Walker or Bracco, or whoever become something notably better than Leivo or Hyman. If we think of the possibilities of what they can become as a distribution, the most likely answer (beyond not making it to the NHL) is being a decent depth player. So while I get the idea of valuing upside, there comes a point where the upside has such a remote chance of happening that it doesn’t outweigh the fact that Leivo/Hyman are NHL capable players right now.

Posted by Arvind.

He’s very offensively gifted but I think, like Leivo, he’s lacking the thing that’s going to push him over the edge into meaningful NHL time. I could be wrong and he’d got another step up to make in his play, but for me again, Rychel comes in over this guy, so do a few other new additions to the team. On the right line in the NHL, he may produce, but it can be so hard to find that right fit for a marginal player, particular one with a high-risk game.

Posted by KatyaKnappe

I agree he has a future in the NHL but he is in tough this year competing in a logjam of forwards with his waiver exempt status all but guaranteeing he starts the season with the Marlies. Next season he will be in the exact same position as Josh Leivo was this year. A UFA at 23, looking for a new contract. As much as I like this player and what he brings, I cannot see him surviving the season as a Leaf. As implied in this article, he has a Brendan "Gallagherish" quality that other teams are looking for and would be very tradeable for more pressing positional needs.

Posted by GcmGome

I’ve seen Bracco twice live. The first game he was noticeable and it was evident that he had above average offensive ability – identifying passing lanes, sharp anticipatory passing, very good off the rush playmaking, etc. The second time he looked well contained and couldn’t generate anything. His skating looked ok to me, but some (Brook Otten, Brendon Ross and someone else who is escaping me) seem to indicate his skating was just slightly above average, which really puts him lower in my books considering his size. If he can develop another gear I think that I would rank him right around here.

His even-strength points are right around Lawson Course and Christian Fischer (an Arizona 2nd round steal). So he’s in good company for even-strength wingers in his draft class.

Posted by The Norris

Yeah, I’m not thrilled with his skating, which matters a lot, because if you’re a small guy, you need to be able to move around.

Posted by Arvind

Bracco’s 1.0 Pr.P/GP this season ties him with Pavel Zacha and Lawson Crouse, and he’s just a hair behind Mitchell Stephens (1.091). At even strength he ties Crouse for primary points again (0.735) and is ahead of Zacha (0.639). So he’s keeping up with some highly-regarded prospects, although he may have had better linemates (he also may have had worse linemates; I don’t really know).

All told, I’d still much rather have Travis Konecny, but I still have some hope that Bracco can turn into something. Hopefully he’ll have a big season back in Kitchener and then contribute to the Marlies in 2017-18.

Posted by m piedlourde