Toronto Maple Leafs Select Tyler Biggs 22nd Overall

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded the 30th and 39th overall pick to Anaheim in order to move up to picked 22nd. They then used that pick to grab Tyler Biggs from the US National Team Development program. Biggs is, as "they" love to say, a "Brian Burke-type player". He is a 6'2" right winger that tips the scales at 200 pounds and was compared to Colby Armstrong. I'm not a big prospects guy but, as Puckurgently mentioned, at an even where every player gets outlandish comparisons he was compared to a tweener 2nd/3rd liner. At the end of the day, we'll see what he does at Miami of Ohio (Brendan Burke's school) over the next couple of years but that's not such a great start.

The much more enthusiastic comparison was when he was called Milan Lucic but with more offensive upside. So he's got that going for him. Also, the kid's family is from Toronto and he grew up watching the Buds just like us and watched the team growing up. For what it's worth, he was projected to go 23rd in TSN's mock draft:

TSN Analysis: Biggs is probably the nastiest guy in this draft. He's a big physical player that's going to punish people once he gets to the NHL level.

- Pierre McGuire

After the jump, an in-depth ranking that might make you sad and a couple of videos of the man in action.

Tyler Biggs seemed like a natural for you
He’s a big kid. We’re drafting a skilled player who has truculence and belligerence. He’s a big guy who can play, he’s going to a good program in Miami, but he’s hostile and truculent and those things we like. He’s got the size to back it up. We worked pretty hard to get him. We’re pretty excited about it.He’s been a Team Canada killer the last three years in international play as well. So he can compete.
Yes, he’s played well in big games. We think he has tremendous upside. The type of team that I want to have, the pieces that we need to get to that point, this is a guy that could be one of those pieces. We’re excited about it.

The scouting report also said his footspeed is really quick. That’s a bonus at this stage of his career.
Well, I know three teams came up to me. A couple of teams tried to get that pick to take him and couple of teams came up to me afterwards and said that’s the guy they were trying to trade up to get. Our guys were really excited about it. We were hoping he would get to us and we made a little move so that we could get him. So we’re pleased to get this young man.

- Brian Burke

78. Tyler Biggs, Right Wing, USA Under-18-USHL

I don't like Tyler Biggs as a prospect, and like with the Russian prospects I should state again that this is not based on the recent Under-18's, but rather based on my long-term evaluation of Biggs. He skates fine, and well for a big guy, projects very well in the physical game, can shoot the puck and flashes offensive skill here and there. However he just doesn't do enough good things over a substantial sample size to warrant consideration into a higher ranking in my opinion. Overall, he's all right with the puck, but there are moments where he'll be decent, and moments where he looks like his hands are made of rock. His hockey IQ is fringe, and doesn't have the right combination of skills to project as a scorer. Biggs will be a player you throw out there to jet around, bang bodies, score a few here and there and maybe plant in front of the net on a power play, but there's simply too much wrong in key areas and not enough right in others to supplement that to think he's anything but a lower-tier prospect.

- Corey Pronman, Puck Prospectus