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Going into last season, Ty Voit was getting ready for his first pro year after completing a pretty successful OHL career. A former fifth round pick by Toronto following the pandemic season that completely wiped out his draft year, Voit rattled off 80 and 105 point seasons for Sarnia, leading the team both seasons by 21 and 23 points respectively.
We wound up ranking Voit 15th in the 2023 T25U25, which was a little bump from the previous year. The fact that, this summer, his rankings fell back to 18th should give a hint as to how well his pro debut went.
| Ty Voit | Vitals |
|---|---|
| Age as of July 1 | 21.06 |
| Position | LW |
| Height | 5'10" |
| Weight (lbs) | 157 |
| Shoots | R |
| Draft Year | 2021 |
| Draft Number | 153 |
The Player
Voit is a classic small, zippy, creative perimeter playmaker. He was arguably the best pure playmaker in the OHL in his final year. That's not bad for a fifth round pick, and he finished 2nd in the entire league in points in his final year.
But there were always doubters as to Voit's projections. He was always small, not just in terms of height but also his weight – and it showed. He was never much of an inside-driven player, but in junior it didn't matter. He could break defenses down from the outside and set up his teammates for dangerous scoring chances with his passing ability.
For Leafs fans, this was familiar ground. We'd seen the likes of Jeremy Bracco, Dmytro Timashov, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, come through the Marlies and hitting the ceiling that their size and limited diversity in their game held over their heads.
In the past, I had expressed concern that the way Voit played was risky – he was not a very shifty skater, like Marner who is impossible for opponents to square up and hit. Voit got rocked now and then through his whole junior career, and once he turned pro he'd be facing bigger, faster, and harder hitting opponents.
Well, that turned out to be pretty prophetic. Even before the season started, Voit had to leave one of the prospect tournament games with a shoulder injury. That was in September, and it took him until December to return. He played in 5 rehab games in the ECHL where he had 8 points – that's good! And then in his first AHL game, he suffered another shoulder injury that required season ending surgery after falling into the boards.
Ty Voit goes awkwardly into the boards and is very slow to get up. He headed straight to the #Marlies dressing room. pic.twitter.com/mzyTiKn3h2
— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) December 21, 2023
So it's not too surprising that his rankings fell. He showed a little taste of what his talent can do, but he also showed that he can get hurt because of how small he is. Nick Robertson is also small, and he plays like a bulldog. He's good enough to at least be in the NHL. Voit is smaller, and doesn't have that same play style.
The Votes
Here's how we all voted:
| Voter | Vote |
|---|---|
| Cathy | NA |
| Brian | 19 |
| Species | 14 |
| Adam | 12 |
| Hardev | 18 |
| dhammm | 19 |
| Cameron S | 19 |
| Hound Line | 19 |
| brysplace | 15 |
| Catch-67 | 19 |
| Sclodiggity | 13 |
| shinson93 | 22 |
| The Bag | 16 |
| Zone Entry | 24 |
| Weighted Average | 18.21 |
| Highest Vote | 12 |
| Lowest Vote | 24 |
The problem for me is that his path to the NHL rests solely on his playmaking. He has to be so exceptionally good at it that coaches won't care that he can't do anything else at a high enough level. He may be an exceptional passer, but he's not that good of a skater, or a defensive forward who can kill penalties, or a shooter/goal scorer. He's extremely one dimensional, even if that one dimension is really good.
At this point, I'd say that the ceiling for Voit is basically Jeremy Bracco. If he stays healthy, he may be able to carve out a solid AHL or European pro career where the level of play isn't so high that he can't do well enough in other areas, and his playmaking is actually that much better than everyone else.
Voit still has a long way to go to prove that he can develop in other ways to make it work in the NHL.
The Opinions
Here's what some of the other voters had to say about their rankings of Voit:
dhammm: Bit of a mulligan year for Ty Voit, who sustained an injury before the season began in earnest, seemed to get going with the Growlers, and then suffered a season-ending injury during his first and only Marlies game. Prospects can suffer setbacks like this and still bounce back and become something in the NHL (look at Nick Robertson), but this certainly hurts Voit's stock.
brysplace: No news definitely not good news in this case. Dropped down my rankings due to injury. I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a Roberston-like situation for Ty.
Sclodiggity: I don’t let injuries affect my rankings as much as others do (I had him at 13) but the lack of results last year makes it hard to have much confidence in your ranking. He was trending up at a very impressive rate and ready to take pro-hockey by storm, but without that strong AHL season, he’s still a small player who may not be able to translate his offensive junior success. Still, big numbers are fun and 5’10” isn’t that small so there’s a good chance he’ll have a big season with the Marlies and we can all get excited again.
shinson93: Hard to get a read with so little actual playing time. Seemed to have a good run in ECHL before getting injured again, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from sliding down several spots.
Cameron S: In my opinion Voit might be the player with one of the lowest floors and highest ceilings. Due to injuries, we haven’t seen much of him and he still seems like a wild card. However, it will be interesting to see where his career goes. I find it unlikely he reaches very high though, but I could see him playing with the Marlies.
Cathy: I 100% ignore seasons that didn't happen. Don't care about last year. On the evidence prior to that, this guy has no path to the NHL, he is a useful AHL forward at best.
Hardev: I'm surprised I hit the average again for this player. I feel bad for Voit for missing the whole season, that's never fun. I'm sure he's itching to get back onto the ice and show what he can do. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much to his game that he can evolve from junior hockey to professional hockey. I think the comparison to Bracco is apt, though Voit doesn't have the same baggage. It'll be nice to see him play a season, I'm sure he can be useful to the Marlies in the right role, just not someone who will likely challenge for the NHL. Sorry.
So what do you all think? Are you believers in Voit's skill and playmaking? Or are you already off the hype train?
Ty Voit (No. 49) made his pro debut on Friday with the Newfoundland Growlers. Across 2 games this weekend, he collected four assists - all of them primary. He'll surely be up with the Marlies before long.#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/9gTWYJFLYo
— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) December 3, 2023
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