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And we're back! With the official rankings anyways. What better way to stave off the most boring period of the off-season than to discuss players ranked at the very end of a list that will, most likely, never play a single game in the NHL?
This year we kick off the official Top 25 Under 25 list with an fifth round pick from 2023 – Hudson Malinoski. In last year's rankings, we had him 20th despite the fact that Toronto lost some of the better, older prospects off the list, and didn't really add a lot of high end prospects to replace them.
So, why did he not only avoid having a jump in his rankings after a year, but saw them drop?
| Hudson Malinoski | Vitals |
|---|---|
| Age as of July 1 | 20.12 |
| Position | C |
| Height | 6' |
| Weight (lbs) | 175 |
| Shoots | L |
| Draft Year | 2023 |
| Draft Number | 153 |
The Player
In 2022/23, Malinoski had a breakout season in the AJHL on the best non-CHL junior team in Canada. He was not their best player, but was their top center. He had a bit of two-way game in him, but more than half of his points came on the powerplay.
This season, Malinoski joined Providence College in the NCAA as a 19 year old freshman. He was a middle six center who was on their secondary powerplay unit and played a bit on the penalty kill. Providence was very much a hard hitting, hard working team that didn't have a lot of skill and Malinoski fit in with that.
#LeafsForever prospect Hudson Malinoski is sent in alone and makes no mistake, scoring his 5th goal of the season.pic.twitter.com/v8vKvt0Gbs
— More like Nikita GREATbyonkin (@brigstew86) November 25, 2023
Malinoski started the season pretty strong, with 5 points in his first 6 games. Then his production slowed down a lot in the middle of the season – he had 6 points in his next 20 games, and Providence's season sputtered. But he finished strong, with 7 points in the final 9 games including the playoffs. In total, he had 9 goals, 9 assists and 18 points in 35 games. That was good for a tie for 4th on the team, and a tie for 2nd in goals. He also finished 50th in the NCAA for all U20 skaters... not exactly an offensive force.
Funnily enough, Malinoski's success more or less mirrored the team as a whole. They started the season on a roll, winning some tough games against top programs in the NCAA, and their rankings jumped up. They sputtered in the middle of the season, however, but did finish on a stronger run – barring the early playoff exit, anyway.
Last year, I wrote this about Malinoski:
If everything breaks right for him, Malinoski could make for an interesting bottom six center with a decent array of NHL-skills handling the puck, passing, as well as playing a bit of a power-forward, two-way game. On top of that, he could have a specialized role using his shot from the point or half wall on the powerplay. Time will tell if he can develop enough of a two-way game to reliably kill penalties, but he has the tools to have potential there.
This is still very true. He wasn't getting top powerplay time, which is what he relies on to get a lot of his points. But he did play some time on the penalty kill, and he did establish himself as a hard working, two way center. He didn't exactly blow the doors off or as an elite defensive center, but the AJHL to arguably the NCAA's top conference last year was a pretty big jump in quality of competition.
#LeafsForever prospect Hudson Malinoski snipes his sixth goal of the season on the powerplay. He's up to 11 points in 24 games in his freshman NCAA season.pic.twitter.com/2DMbgJPy7h
— More like Nikita GREATbyonkin (@brigstew86) February 3, 2024
This year, we'll want to see him take another step. He's felt out the league, he's established his game within the team's systems, and Providence will be returning a lot of their veterans from last season. I want to see him start stealing time on the top powerplay unit, the top penalty kill unit, and top even strength minutes from the seniors that were ahead of him last year.
More production will be nice, but it's not what will help him make the NHL barring a huge improvement in his offensive ability. If he wants to become an NHL guy, he'll have to be able to make an impact as a two-way depth center who coaches can rely on in a number of specialized situations. Any points he gets are just gravy.
The Votes
I almost snuck Malinoski into my rankings, but ultimately didn't include him. He did establish himself in the NCAA, but he was joining in his D+2 season. While I haven't really written him off as a prospect just yet, he didn't really do anything to increase any belief I may have had in him. There were simply more prospects in the system that I thought were more fun to include, even if they don't really have a stronger argument than he does.
Let's see how all of the official voters ranked him.
| Voter | Vote |
|---|---|
| Cathy | NA |
| Brian | NA |
| Species | NA |
| Adam | NA |
| Hardev | NA |
| dhammm | 23 |
| Cameron S | NA |
| Hound Line | 24 |
| brysplace | NA |
| Catch-67 | 21 |
| Sclodiggity | NA |
| shinson93 | 17 |
| The Bag | 20 |
| Zone Entry | 18 |
| Weighted Average | 23.64 |
| Highest Vote | 17 |
| Lowest Vote | 24 |
The Opinions
Cathy: I did not rank Malinoski, and I don't have a great reason, but I do have a reason. I try very hard to avoid ranking the lowest-round draftees unless they've done something exceptional. And so far he hasn't.
dhammm: Malinoski wasn't blowing the doors off in his freshman NCAA year but he contributed and got something like top-6 playing time, which to me is good enough to register here in the Kuiper belt of the T25U25.
Zone Entry: I guess I’m a bit of a sucker for “overcome adversity” backstories, plus Hudson has a decently cool name and plays centre. This year that was enough to make my list.
Sclodiggity: I didn’t rank Malinoski. This far down in the rankings youth, and the potential for improvement, has more value than any miniscule difference in skill or track record. Malinoski is 20 and doesn’t seem likely to be NHL ready in the next season or two, at which point he’ll be competing with more newer (and presumably higher skilled) prospects.
Hardev: You’ll also notice I didn’t rank Malinoski. It’s tough to see much to be excited about when he’s only played in AAA and the AJHL. I know that’s how it’s supposed to work if he wants to get an NCAA degree and play in that program, but there is a sacrifice in terms of competition for all those years. He didn’t lead is AJHL team in scoring two years ago, so that’s concerning. One positive for him is he was an important player for the pretty bad Providence team (6th in their conference and barely over .500). That can do two things for a rookie prospect; 1. He grows with the program and develops into an important player. Or 2. He’s Veeti Miettinen on St. Cloud State and neither go anywhere. We’ll see where things go, but as Cathy said, nothing exceptional yet.
Sounds about right to me!
Now it's your turn to share with us what you think. Did we rank him too high (lol)? Should he have been higher?
#LeafsForever prospect Hudson Malinoski (#9 in grey) with a great set of hands coming off the boards to tie the game 1-1 on the powerplay. He has 2 goals and 3 points in his first 4 NCAA games. Great environment in the building for two top 10 NCAA teams! pic.twitter.com/grUDL7fYUC
— More like Nikita GREATbyonkin (@brigstew86) October 20, 2023
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