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There aren't many people who really know who Jacob Quillan is as a hockey player. Hell, I consider myself one of the bigger degenerates out there when it comes to hockey prospects and I didn't know squat about him when Toronto signed him. But by now, we've all had time to read the profiles and scouting reports and see him play for a bit on the Marlies and at Toronto's prospect camp.
| Jacob Quillan | Vitals |
|---|---|
| Age as of July 1 | 22.41 |
| Position | C |
| Height | 6' |
| Weight (lbs) | 201 |
| Shoots | L |
| Draft Year | Undrafted |
| Draft Number | NA |
The Player
The fact that Quillan is debuting on the T25U25 at 17 is a good indication of how whelmed everyone has been about him, so far. Minor spoilers, I ranked him 13th. He was one of the first players I ranked in the big tier I had after the top 10/11 players that actually interest me. So I consider him to be interesting based off my vibes with him, but I remain unsure of his future NHL potential.
For those who did not read much of his scouting reports and profiles, here's the fun facts:
- He was first eligible for the 2020 NHL draft, but went unselected. He was playing in the US Prep High School circuit, but not on one of the top programs like Shattuck St Mary's.
- He spent the next (pandemic shortened) season in the BCHL in 2020/21, where he had decent but not crazy offensive numbers you'd expect from a D+1 prospect of serious note in that league. But he did also score the league's championship winning goal in overtime.
- He joined Quinnipiac in his D+2 season (2021/22), and as a freshman had a ho-hum 9 points in 36 games. Quinnipiac were an up and coming school in the NCAA. He and the team as a whole had their big breakout the following season (2022/23), when Quillan had 38 points in 41 games as one of their top centers, and scored the NCAA championship winning goal against Matt Knies' Minnesota Gophers. Clearly, he was born with the #clutch gene. He was awarded the NCAA Most Outstanding Player for the Frozen Four tournament.
- He returned to Quinnipiac for one more season, now his D+3 year, for 2023/24 as their top center. He had a career best 46 points in 39 games, and was one of the top NCAA free agents available.
Jacob Quillan called game! Zach Metsa (FA) and Sam Lipkin (#Yotes) the assists.@QU_MIH wins the NCAA Championship game 3-2 in overtime.#MFrozenFour pic.twitter.com/s2EnsTOKqf
— EP Rinkside (@EPRinkside) April 9, 2023
You know the rest, he signed with Toronto and got into 10 total games with the Marlies – 7 regular season, 3 playoffs. He had 1 point in those games, so yeah... not really an offensive juggernaut. But as a guy signed as a 22 year old undrafted free agent, that's hardly surprising.
What makes Quillan interesting as a player is everything else that he does well. You can think of him in the same vein as a Ryan Tverberg, Pontus Holmberg, Nikita Grebyonkin, Conor Dewar, and so on. By all accounts, he does all the little things well that coaches love.
Here's a quote from Elite Prospects in their NCAA free agency guide:
Skate hard, find the open teammate, and create space – that’s Quillan’s game. He subtly wins body position and sets picks across the ice, creating lanes for his teammates. With the puck, he’s the transition driver on his line with his weaving rushes, give-and-goes, and pace. At times, Quillan manipulates the defence to create openings. Prowess in the dot, penalty kill skills, and off-puck defensive awareness complete his skill set.
Quillan has several pathways to the NHL, but all roughly fill similar roles: Bottom-six, likely fourth-line roles where adapts to the needs of the coaching staff and his teammates.
By his tracking data, he was exceptional in three areas: driving controlled transitions, and being a menace in the offensive zone to help facilitate the offense without necessarily being the main guy creating it. That involves things like body positioning and off-puck assists, which are defined as actions that help create space for teammates. Think driving through the middle lane on a rush to draw defenders to you instead of the puck carrier or a trailing teammate; or lifting defender's sticks so passes don't get picked off or knocked away; or moving through the shooting lanes to serve as screens against the goalies and defense. These are all things that Quillan was elite at providing in the NCAA.
That's great and all, but it's not exactly sexy or exciting for people who rank prospects. However, I think that kind of player has a much better chance of making the NHL than, say, a sexier and more flashy/skilled forward like Ty Voit or even Nick Moldenhauer. The skills that Quillan has are valuable, even if the public doesn't value them that much. It's some of the reason why I love Grebenkin, and why I came to love Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan – that's right, it wasn't the gaudy point totals that always catches my eye with him.
The Votes
I already mentioned that I had Quillan at 13th, but let's see how everyone else ranked him:
| Voter | Vote |
|---|---|
| Cathy | 15 |
| Brian | 13 |
| Species | 15 |
| Adam | NA |
| Hardev | 17 |
| dhammm | 20 |
| Cameron S | 13 |
| Hound Line | 13 |
| brysplace | 22 |
| Catch-67 | 22 |
| Sclodiggity | NA |
| shinson93 | 11 |
| The Bag | 13 |
| Zone Entry | 11 |
| Weighted Average | 16.93 |
| Highest Vote | 11 |
| Lowest Vote | 22 |
Cathy in the recent past talked about how a guy like Pontus Holmberg really was underappreciated by us T25U25 voters in the past, until he was becoming a regular NHLer. Quillan seems like a guy who can do the same kind of little things that help be more successful than his "skills" may make you think. And hey, would you look at that, it was when Holmberg was 22 years old that he joined the Marlies at first!
The question for Quillan is: can he provide those unheralded skills and be a complete enough package at a high enough level to be a regular NHLer? I'm still unsure, but I like his chances better than some of the others who want to fit that type on the Marlies. I want to see him become one of the most relied upon centers on the Marlies first. Not the top point producing guy, just someone that acts as a comfort blanket for his coaches. If he can do that in the AHL, I'll have more faith that he can do it in a bottom six role in the NHL.
The Opinions
Here's what everyone else had to say:
dhammm: I see three skaters in the Leafs' pipeline who are looking to make the jump to pro in 2024-25, and of the three, Quillan seems to have the best resume. He’s not yet impressive enough to rank him in even the mid pro tier, but we’ll see what this coming year brings. The reputation for clutch goals is a nice story but it doesn’t influence my rankings at all.
Cathy: I might be falling for something here. Maybe the Leafs signed this guy to an ELC because that's the only way they'd get him, and they figured he was just barely worth a shot. I'm betting with my ranking that they think he's more than just barely worth it. He looks on paper exactly like the kind of faintly dull, not all that gifted at scoring, but good hockey player who goes undrafted and sometimes makes the NHL.
Sclodiggity: I didn’t rank Quillan which may be partly due to his newness to the Leafs system. With that said, prospects in this range are hard to differentiate and Quillan has a relatively poor track record for a 22 year old. A big year for the Marlies could change things but he’ll be a year older and still not next in line for a call up. The road to meaningful contributions on the Leafs is just too long.
shinson93: I’m probably one of the highest on Quillan. I think part of it is that I see a skillset that fits well with being trusted to earn ice time at the next levels, which is valuable. Some of that probably comes from developing in the defensive minded Quinnipiac system. He also seemed to fit right in when he showed up to the Marlies, even it didn’t show up on his stat line. I might be being tricked by the lack of center depth, but I’m expecting a solid year with the Buds.
The Bag: Quillan didn’t quite make my “I think there’s something there” tier of players. He’s 22 so I would expect to more or less see who is at this point. Two good NCAA years don’t, on their own, mean very much. His track record before that was, uh, unimpressive. If you zoom in as some others do you may see skills that project well to a bottom 6 role. To me, though, I’m not seeing much to convince me he’s more than a potentially good Marlie.
Matt Frattin scored that cool goal against the Sabres, though, that one time.
Hardev: Definitely a player that’s on the list of possible depth guys. A good NCAA player who was at the top of his team in scoring (somewhat of a requirement for college grads going to pro). He’s coming off a high of a college career with buckets of success and being “the guy” for a lot of moments. Coming to the Marlies with a bunch of confidence is going to help him. I’m not able to analyze his skillset yet as a player since he just joined the organization, but we’ll get a lot of information this season.
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