Maple Leafs Prospect Report: ECHL Check-In

Over the years, we've heard all about how Toronto has wanted to invest in a three-tier development system. That was a fancy way of saying they thought they could find more diamonds in the rough by investing more in an affiliate team they have in the ECHL. Since that idea first started, there's really been two noteworthy success stories to give some justification to this investment: Justin Holl and Bobby McMann. I'd also throw in Justin Brazeau, but he didn't make it to the NHL until after he had already moved on to other organizations.

The odds are very low for any prospect to spend meaningful time in the ECHL to ever make the NHL at all, let alone become a regular impact player. With that in mind, let's look at Toronto's ECHL team – the Cincinnati Cyclones – and see who on their roster may have the best shot.

Chas Sharpe

By far the most obvious choice for that 'best shot' is defenseman Chas Sharpe. He is a 6'3" right shot defenseman who was signed to a PTO late last season after he completed his OHL career. Sharpe's OHL career as a defenseman was interesting, but mostly underwhelming. Despite his size, he was never a strong defensive defenseman. But neither was he a great offensive player – he never once had a season above a point per game, in fact it took until his last season as a 20 year old to break double digits in goals, and reach higher than 0.5 points per game.

On the other hand, that final season was a noticeable jump: he had 19 goals and 53 points in 67 games for the Steelheads, and parlayed that into a contract with Toronto. But considering his age and tracking data, he seemed like the kind of guy you sign to a pro contract, but not an ELC, to provide organizational depth between your AHL and ECHL teams.

Considering how deep Toronto's defensive depth chart has been, albeit without a lot of NHL impact stars, Sharpe's obvious path was to start in the ECHL. However, he's thrived while on a team that hasn't been that great. Their record to start the season was 6-19-4, they had a -34 goal differential and averaged only two goals per game. They've improved since then, with a 12-6-3 record and an improved offense and defense.

On the one hand, being the most used defenseman in that time does sort of indicate that some of the offensive and defensive problems of the team are at least not being helped by you. However, Sharpe leads the team in goals (18) and points (32) in 48 games as a defenseman, and for a while it wasn't all that close. His stats are also good for 8th in the league among all defensemen for points, and first for goals. So the offense is real, in terms of production at least.

The strength of Sharpe's game is definitely his shot. He has a cannon for a slapshot that he has scored most of his goals with. It's not just that it's heavy and has some velocity to it, it's that he can get it off quickly, it is pretty darn accurate considering the shot type, and he's got a knack for choosing when to shoot when it's more likely to get through from the point instead of just getting easily blocked by someone's shin pads. It's a mix of positioning and timing to be in the right spot to have the right angle for a shot. It makes that point shot a legitimate weapon, both on the powerplay but also at even strength.

The rest of Sharpe's game isn't as strong from the bit I've seen, but none of it looks awful. I'd say he looks around average for a non-NHL professional hockey defenseman, with an above average shot and offensive brain. If I had more hours in the day, I'd spend more time looking into him in detail. For now, I'll check in on him now and then but otherwise I'll wait until the Leafs decide he's good enough to call up to the Marlies for that.

What I can say from what I have seen, is that ee moves well for a bigger defenseman but I'd say his skating is just average and could definitely be improved. His defense relies a lot on size and reach, but he could definitely get stronger and add better defensive tricks as well as decision making. His puck movement is okay, maybe slightly above average. He needs to improve the rest of his game enough to the point that teams won't see him as a liability outside of the times he's clapping bombs from the point.

Braeden Kressler

Funnily enough, one of the things that helped Cincinnati turn the reason around was the arrival of Braeden Kressler. He started the season on the Marlies, unlike Voit, and got into 12 games while being a scratch for a bunch of others. His 2 points in 12 games show he wasn't doing all that great, but honestly from the bits I remember seeing he didn't look completely out of place either. As of now, he seems like an ECHL/AHL tweener.

Case in point, since being sent down to Cincinnati and playing in his first game for them on December 28th, their record with Kressler in the lineup is 11-5-2, and he's helped a lot playing in the top six as a center with 7 goals and 14 points in those 18 games. It's not fantastic, but does put him 13th in the league for players his age or younger for point per game pace.

Kressler's strengths and weaknesses remain the same, albeit as a slightly improved version this season. He's a smart, sort of skilled two way forward who is a natural center as far as being defensive and taking faceoffs. His problem is that he is limited in his physical abilities. He's too small (5'9") to be an effective checking center in the NHL, and doesn't have elite skating or skill to make up for it. If he were even 6'0" I'd say he'd be at least another Jacob Quillan, who is three inches taller and 30 lbs heavier. He can be fun and pleasing to watch, because he almost always makes the right decisions.

I still hold out a faint candlelight of hope for him, just because I like him. He's 22, so the oldest of the three prospects I'm talking about here. He's not likely to add a lot more muscle, or gain an inch or two in height, or dramatically improve his skating or skill. But he could still work with the development team to improve at the margins and pick up a trick or two from other players or coaches around him. I can see him being a solid career AHLer or European pro if he has the desire to stick around the sport that long.

Ty Voit

Voit's fall from grace happened right when he turned pro. After a successful OHL career becoming one of the league's best offensive playmakers, Voit immediately struggled with everything that I had expected he might. First, he was small enough to be very susceptible to injuries, as he had two that basically kept him out all season last year. He suffered a pre-season injury, returned for a 5 game rehab stint in the ECHL where he had 8 points in 5 games, then was immediately injured again in his first AHL game that made him miss the rest of the year.

Now, he's returned for basically the full season so far, but he's been in the ECHL the whole time. I mentioned above that Cincinnati has not been a good team, which is different from how good Newfoundland was. Voit has very much gone as the team has gone – he really struggled when the team was bad, and has started doing better now that the team has been better. He has 27 points in 45 games, not exactly enticing stats for a prospect whose entire value is his offense. But he has been better in the second half of the season, including 20 points in his last 25 games.

All of the problems I've talked about with him are still there, however. He's a very good playmaker but his skill in that regard is not at a high enough level to make you overlook the rest of his hockey abilities. And all those hockey abilities (defense, play driving, transitions, scoring, skating, physicality) are not good enough to make him much of an impact guy when his playmaking isn't working. When the team struggled early on, especially with their offense, Voit wasn't doing much because there was no one for him to really set up, outside of Sharpe. So his strengths are even limited by the players around him, making him very dependent on linemates and careful usage.

There isn't really anyone on the Marlies right now I'd take out to add him in and see if he can do better there, and there are a couple of guys on Cincinnati I'd rather call up before him anyways. That is pretty much a nail in the coffin for him as a prospect of interest for me.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!