Ahead of the 2022 prospects tournament in Traverse City, Assistant General Manager Ryan Hardy discussed Nick Robertson’s prospects for an NHL job this season, the organization’s goals for the tournament, and the development of Curtis Douglas, Pontus Holmberg, William Villeneuve, and Mikhail Abramov.
Maple Leafs’ 2022 Prospect Tournament Roster & Schedule
Date & Time
Opponent
September 15, 6:30 p.m.
Dallas
September 16, 6:30 p.m.
St. Louis
September 18, 2:00 p.m.
Columbus
September 19, 11:00 a.m.
Detroit
Forwards
Defensemen
Goaltenders
#22 Max Ellis
#33 Noah Van Vliet
#40 Luke Cavallin
#26 Nick Abruzzese
#41 Kasper Larsen
#70 Marco Costantini
#29 Pontus Holmberg
#59 Tommy Miller
#80 Keith Petruzzelli
#39 Fraser Minten
#61 Axel Rindell
#46 Alex Steeves
#76 William Villaneuve
#49 Ty Voit
#82 Filip Kral
#53 Curtis Douglas
#83 Marshall Rifai
#56 Brandon Lisowsky
#84 Mikko Kokkonen
#63 Braeden Kressler
#67 Avery Hayes
#72 Sean McGurn
#75 Pavel Gogolev
#85 Semyon Der-Arguchintsev
#89 Nick Robertson
#90 Graham Slaggert
#97 Pano Fimis
How close do you think Nick Robertson is to being an everyday NHLer?
Hardy: If we look at last season, in particular, I think Nicky played 28 games in the American league and scored 16 goals. That is a 40-goal clip for a kid that just turned 22 the other day. That is an unbelievable run.
He is extremely driven. He is a young man that loves hockey. I think he is very much knocking on the doorstep.
Can you see Curtis Douglas developing into his body over the next few years and become more of an offensive force?
Hardy: For Curtis, it has been a really great story for us to have him, after a couple of stops before, come in and perform the way he did. The offensive production he had was probably more than we were expecting.
When you look at what he does, he is a big man that works extremely hard at his craft. I think we have to be patient. I sort of view Curtis kind of like you would view a goalie. It is typically goalies and then defensemen who take the longest to mature, but when you are 6’8, that is probably going to take the longest time to fully mature.
We have to be patient with him. We have to temper expectations. At the same time, he brings a lot of elements that are extremely important to the future of this organization. If he continues to work the way that he does, he will be knocking on the door sooner rather than later.
Are you expecting any kind of difficulty in the transition for players like Mikko Kokkonen and Axel Rindell coming from Finland to the AHL or NHL?
Hardy: There is always a transition. There is a transition for players certainly coming from junior, even, to professional — which we saw last year with a lot of our first-year professionals. Whether it is a smaller rink or just coming to North America, you probably take for granted a little bit the transition for a young person moving away from home or what is normal and comfortable for them.
As we always are, we will be patient with the young players, but they are very talented, so I certainly expect that they will pick certain things up in short order. Some things will take some time. We will just support them and work with them and push them along as far as we can.
How do you feel Pontus Holmberg has adapted since coming over?
Hardy: Pontus is a great kid. We sort of threw him into the fire at the end of the season with the Marlies there. We dropped him right in with Brett Seney and Joey Anderson on our top unit. He played important minutes. He is another guy who has put together a nice resume for himself in Swedish professional hockey or in international hockey. He did a nice job for us at the end of the season.
I am looking forward to him maybe having an uptick in offensive production relative to what we saw at the end. He will be relied upon plenty, whichever team he is on, and certainly in this event.
William Villeneuve showed a lot of growth in junior after having a -50 season. He was +60 last year and won the Memorial Cup. What are your expectations for him?
Hardy: He is an extremely smart player with a lot of poise with the puck. He has done a really nice job this summer. If you look at him and the work he has put in on his body, it has been phenomenal. When players transitioning from junior to professional take that time and attack it that diligently, it probably shortens the learning curve.
That being said, he is another guy that, because of what he can do with the puck, with his size and his right shot, everybody is extremely excited about, especially at an event like this where you can see some real positive flashes from him.
Again, it is patience. It is going to be defensive habits and defensive details, learning the schedule, learning how to assimilate to pro hockey, and learning how to play inside of contact when men are leaning on you and bearing down on you. That is what I expect from him. There will be ups and downs in the first professional season, but he is certainly a guy myself and all of our staff really are bullish on.
Can you confirm Mikhail Abramov’s status?
Hardy: He would have been on this roster. At the end of last season, he tweaked something and he missed the last few weeks of the Marlies‘ season. I think it was something we thought was going to go away with some rest early in the summer. It just kind of lingered, lingered, and lingered.
He is another player that from an outside perspective maybe you would think should have had more production last season. From my perspective — transitioning from junior into first-year professional and with how relied on him, Douglas, and SDA were for us down the middle after the other guys didn’t clear waivers — he did a lot of things that I certainly wanted him to do.
The biggest thing for me and for us is that he is a player who is extremely conscientious in his details and has a great work ethic. I would like to get him starting this season on the absolute right foot, which is getting his body where it needs to be first and adding some strength, which probably in the summer — because he was rehabbing his injury — he didn’t get.
We are going to take a very conservative approach with him and make sure that when we do assimilate him back into the group, we will be setting him up for long-term success rather than us getting excited to see him in this event.
What was the thought process behind the coaching staff this year instead of going with the AHL staff like in other years?
Note: The Maple Leafs prospect team’s head coach will be Maple Leafs assistant coach Manny Maholtra. Assistants will include Duanté Abercrombie, Jordan Bean, Danielle Goyette, John Snowden, and Hannu Toivonen.
Hardy: I think it is a multi-layered decision, really. It was actually Sheldon [Keefe’s] idea. It originated with him. We just talked about, for the Marlies coaches that have gone to this event so many times, there is a redundancy in that. We looked at all of these people — whether it is player development, which Danielle Goyette represents, or Manny Maholtra’s experience with the Leafs staff — and we said, “Let’s give Manny an opportunity to get some exposure and experience in an area to help facilitate his development.” When we looked at the rest of the staff, we said, “Okay, where else can we make those kinds of decisions?”
We have blended together a nice staff from Marlies, player development, and the Leafs. We are just letting everybody get some experience and exposure in different areas. At the same time, we are always trying to develop players and we are always trying to develop staff. That was the thought process behind it. That is really why we went that direction.
What are your impressions of Manny Maholtra in spending time around him?
Hardy: Manny has done an excellent job. He is very professional, detailed, and organized. One thing, to Manny’s credit, is that he is very excited about this opportunity.
It is something we stressed within our group. Particularly for players who have been in this event before, sometimes it is, “Ah, I have to go to Traverse City again and go through the rookie tournament process again?” Particularly with players like Nick Robertson and Alex Steeves — who have done this before and have played NHL games — they’re excited to come here and help grow their leadership perspective.
For the coaches and management people, it is really no different. Manny has approached this with a great degree of passion and excitement for him to get his first taste of head-coaching experience. I know he is excited. He is organized. I think we’re ready to go.
What are you looking for from the prospects at this camp?
Hardy: Biggest point of emphasis is probably just to bring a high degree of competitiveness, abrasiveness, and making sure everybody is playing to their potential or capacity. We want to play fast. We want to be aggressive. We want to have everybody get off on the right foot as we start into the training camp season.
How about the players that are close to a roster spot — Nick Abruzzese, Nick Robertson? Are you expecting them to dominate against the competition?
Hardy: I expect them to play to their absolute potential. If they do that, I am confident they will have a good four games.
Are you giving the goalies one game each and going from there?
Hardy: I haven’t made a full determination yet on how we will attack that. We have a plan for the first two games. To speak candidly, we are going to see where we are at in the event. For us, within our organization, we are going here with a very specific purpose: to win. We want to set the tone here with this event in Traverse City leading into Leafs training camp — that is our expectation.
That is how we are going to approach every day. We will go into the first game putting our best foot forward, expecting to win, and we will go from there.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
