2018 T25U25 #16: Adam Brooks is stuck in traffic

You may remember that in 2016, the Leafs drafted a number of overagers, and there was much debate over whether this was a market inefficiency.  You might even remember that we supposedly got the best overager on the market.

Two years later, Adam Brooks is our #16.

The Player

Adam Brooks, a centre (usually) who was drafted from the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats, is neither especially big nor especially fast. That’s led many to worry whether there can be an NHL role for a player like him.  In his first draft eligible years, Brooks didn’t do much to make people think so, and he seemed unlikely to make it as a pro.

In his last two seasons in the WHL, though, Brooks racked up a preposterous 250 points over 138 regular-season games, winning the Bob Clarke Trophy for top scorer one season and falling one point short of winning it (to his linemate Sam Steel) the next.  Brooks was in the eyes of some—okay, in the eyes of me—overdue to make a transition to the pro ranks.

The transition did not go smoothly, at first.  My colleague Brigstew will pick up the story for a bit:

I don’t have much to add in the way of analyzing his stats or scouting his play, but I do want to give a reminder for two pretty significant things Brooks was dealing with last summer and into training camp.

First, in May 2017 and during the WHL playoffs, Adam Brooks suffered a concussion after a pretty brutal check to the head — he would miss the remainder of the playoffs. From a study on recovery period for mild concussion (emphasis mine): “On the choice Reaction Time (RT) tests, however, which demand an increased amount of attention and information processing, the concussed subjects were significantly slower than the normal control group, especially during the 1st month after injury. Even after 3 months, the concussed subjects had not yet attained the skill of the control group [...] Even mild concussions can cause significant attentional and information processing impairment in the absence of any apparent neurological problems.”

He recovered enough to at least participate in the Leafs’ summer development camp held in July. We know that when you are recovering from a concussion that you can’t do heavy workouts, and even when you are recovered enough to start training again you won’t be performing to your full capability. I am reminded of Andreas Johnsson, who also suffered a brutal head shot in the playoffs of his second ever AHL game. Both he and Sheldon Keefe have touched on it taking partway into the next regular season to get back to 100%.

Second, on September 8, Kristen Shilton announced that Brooks had come down with mono sometime during the summer — presumably some time after the development camp in July. For those of you who are not familiar with the illness, here’s how recovering from mono can go: “If there are no complications, the major symptoms usually last for 2 to 4 weeks, and then gradually resolve. Some continue to have fatigue for months or even years after the infection.”

So in between finishing off his WHL career and starting a whole new league in professional AHL hockey, Adam Brooks was recovering from both a concussion and mono. And not just getting over the symptoms too, but getting back into shape and regaining the weight and muscle he may have lost in that time of recovery. He missed much of the NHL preseason and was one of the early cuts along with Bracco, who also had mono that off-season.

It probably comes as no surprise that Brooks looked a lot better in the second part of the season than the first.  After some early droughts Brooks rounded into form somewhat, not lighting the league on fire like he did the WHL, but playing a solid game and contributing to the Marlies’ championship run.

Brooks is a sneakily effective player.  He isn’t necessarily as flashy as his WHL boxcars would suggest, and it takes a bit of looking to see what he contributes.  He had a quick release that enabled him to beat junior goalies and that he’ll hopefully get more use out of next year, and he can make a smart pass (quite a lot of them).  He’s defensively reliable enough to earn the trust of Sheldon Keefe, who had the following things to say about him (via Mike Stephens of Editor In Leaf):

I think progress is the right word for him,” explained Keefe.

“He’s in a good place now. We feel real good no matter where we use him in the lineup, whether it’s on the left wing or down the middle, power play, penalty kill. We think he’s become a nice versatile player for us, in terms of his ability to do different things. That just helps us have options with him as we get into the playoffs”.

As indicated, Brooks had some of his success on the left wing as the year went on, but he’s usually listed as a centre.  Centres are in great demand throughout Toronto’s organization, where Brooks is almost the only pro C with NHL prospects who isn’t already in the Leafs’ lineup.  But there may also be LW jobs to be had down the road, if it comes to that.

I contrast Brooks with the flashier recent draft pick Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, who I wrote up last week. Brooks is developing a more rounded game that might make him useful in a depth role for Toronto down the line.  He still will need to score to be really useful—production is his talent—but a player with his hockey sense and capacity to learn could slot in nicely in a year or two.

Brooks is getting up there—he’s 22, and time waits for no prospect—and this really needs to be a big year for him in the AHL for him to have a serious NHL shot.  But he was a late bloomer in junior and in his first AHL season, too, and when he bloomed, he was worth the wait.

Scott Wheeler, of the Athletic, on Brooks:

The Adam Brooks we saw in the first half of the year, who was hesitant offensively, is no more. Brooks came alive in this year’s playoffs and asserted himself as a really effective AHL centre in the process. His defensive game was always fine, really from the onset, and his offensive game didn’t get to where it needs to be, but Brooks began to demonstrate that he could be a primary carrier on his line and make plays in the offensive zone when he had to. That wasn’t indicative in his production (he actually fell from 0.33 points per game in the regular season to 0.3 in the playoffs) but it was evident in how he played. Brooks became a huge part of the best fourth line in the Calder Cup playoffs. I still think there’s a lot more to his game. I’m not confident he’s going to be an NHL forward, but I do believe he’s going to thrive as a sophomore, and play higher in the Marlies’ lineup — even after the team added Josh Jooris to replace Miro Aaltonen at centre. Brooks convinced himself he had to be a chip-and-chase depth player early in his WHL career. Then he let his skills take over when he was given a chance higher in the lineup. Don’t be surprised if that happens in the AHL either.

I will do the silliest thing you can do with prospects, and make a prediction: I think Scott is right.  It’s going to be a good year for Brooks.

The Stats

Adam Brooks via Elite Prospects

The Voters

Brigstew, expanding on his above thoughts for why he had Brooks 13th:

Do I think this means Brooks is a hot prospect among the likes of Kapanen, Dermott or Johnsson? No, but I do consider him to be at the forefront of the tier consisting of young AHLers with a long shot of making the NHL (Engvall, Grundstrom, Marchment, Timashov, Bracco, etc). This off-season he will have (hopefully) taking the time to catch up on all the practice, training and development that he missed out on last year, so he can hit the ground running instead of playing catch up all year. He’s going to have to show us that he can take a big next step in the AHL this coming season.

Kevin:

Brooks fell sharply down my T25U25 ranking this year after a mediocre rookie season with the Marlies. He was an absolute star back in the WHL, and while an adjustment period is usually expected, he never ended up looking like a top-six centre at the AHL level. He’s one of my favourite players in the organization, so I am hoping that he can breakout offensively next season, but he’s got a long way to go at this point.

He’s a talented playmaker with quick hands, and while his shot does not have the same kind of power as Steven Stamkos or Alexander Ovechkin, he is quite good at picking a corner when coming down on the rush. The main issue here is that he’s undersized, and he hasn’t showed the kind of speed that we expect from undersized forwards at the NHL level. He simply did not generate many scoring chances, and when he did, he usually failed to capitalize.

He played on the Marlies penalty kill this season, and did not receive much powerplay time. His numbers could improve if he becomes a leader with the man advantage, and if he plays with better linemates. He centred a terrific line with Trevor Moore and Mason Marchment in the playoffs, but Brooks isn’t quite quick enough to “drive” his own line, which is probably why he impressed during his short stretch on the wing. I expect him to take a step forward this year offensively, and there aren’t many other centre prospects to compete with in this organization, but he needs to prove that he’s a top AHL player sooner rather than later.

Kevin’s points of caution are valid, and Brooks really does need a big year next season.  And yet, in a group of raw and iffy prospects, I can see a role for Brooks more easily than most.  He’s a smart player, and I don’t think he’s quite as top-nine-or-bust as alternatives like Timashov or Bracco.  He has a chance at being a centre, too, and centres don’t go out of style even if the Leafs have three great ones locked up.  I wouldn’t have Brooks as a likely NHLer, but I think he’s got a real shot, and that’s worth something.