For the past couple of years, I’ve played around with some fun and simple graphical visualizations of the T25U25 results. This year, I thought it would be interesting to look at the full eligible list of players and then compare it to who actually made the cut.
This year’s eligible list is a bit unusual, since the Leafs have a large pile of just barely eligible NHL or AHL roster players who were added via trade of free agency. At the end of last year, it looked like this year’s list would have Andreas Johnsson as the lone player nearly too old to make it, and now there’s a pack of others, some older.
Here they all are, measured by age in days, from Alexander Kerfoot to Nick Robertson. Note that Auston Matthews is more than halfway down this list. (Click the images to see them larger.)
One of the most notable things when you look at the eligibility list this way is the big jump from Andreas Borgman, who turns 25 in this coming season, to William Nylander, who doesn’t turn 24 until after the regular season ends.
Not only is the crowd of 24-year-olds big, there isn’t a steady decline in ages to Robertson. There isn’t a smooth line at all because the birthdates of all these players are not evenly spread over the year.
By chance and by the reality of hockey that sees players born in the first quarter drafted higher, the Leafs have more second quarter and third quarter birthdates in their prospect pool than you would get in a random population. That’s unlikely to be by design, but the splits by position might reflect a tendency to draft at the positions the Leafs are thinnest at with later-round picks. Or it might be chance:
When it comes to handedness, the quest for anyone who shoots right will continue to be difficult:
As for nationality, we know the Leafs look under every rock for players, so this variety shouldn’t surprise anyone:
And finally, just how did the Maple Leafs get all these guys? The old-fashioned way for the most part:
When we have our final 25 names, we’ll see how they measure up to the pool of 48 players they came from.
If you haven’t voted in the community vote yet, you can find out how here:
Related
The 2019 Top 25 Under 25 Community Vote
