{"id":4756,"date":"2016-12-29T23:09:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T04:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=4756"},"modified":"2018-01-17T20:54:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T01:54:27","slug":"maple-leafs-prospects-world-juniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2016\/12\/29\/maple-leafs-prospects-world-juniors\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs Prospects on Display at World Juniors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the 2017 World Juniors preliminary stage almost over, fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs have had a lot to be excited about. Yes, the rookies on the Maple Leafs are making a promising impact for Toronto hockey, but this is about the next wave of players you will be seeing wearing a Maple Leaf in a few years down the road.<\/p>\n<p>This year, hockey fans in Toronto have an excuse to support more nations besides just Canada. Let\u2019s take a look at the players in the Leafs system.<\/p>\n<h3>Carl Grundstrom<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Carl Grundstrom<\/strong> was one of the key players taken by the Maple Leafs who wasn\u2019t an overager.\u00a0 Through just two games on a built Swedish team, the 19 year-old has one goal and three assists, including this nifty assist.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dahlen finishes a great rush by Grundstrom. 3-0 Sweden <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pzYzHMQG3K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/pzYzHMQG3K<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarcPDumont\/status\/813461066978041856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 26, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Grundstrom\u2019s playmaking skills have been on display all tournament long and he\u2019s just one of the reasons why Sweden is a\u00a0dominant team in the tournament this year.<\/p>\n<p>When the 57<sup>th<\/sup> overall pick in 2016 isn\u2019t representing his home team, he\u2019s playing for Frolunda HC in the SHL. Through 27 games he\u2019s collected 13 points, 11 of which are goals.<\/p>\n<h3>Jeremy Bracco<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeremy Bracco<\/strong> is arguably the most anticipated Leafs prospect out of the four that are playing in the tournament. Despite just having <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BradyTrett\/status\/813518463457071104\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this goal<\/a> and five shots on goal to his stat line, Bracco\u2019s stock likely won\u2019t drop if he doesn\u2019t produce as well as other American players. Bracco is known for his playmaking ability and with 34 assists through 27 games with the OHL\u2019s Kitchener Rangers, the 19 year-old winger will continue to be an impact performer for his team despite having a cold start to the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Bracco had a 26-game point streak that was cut short right before the tournament began. Look for that kind of offensive production to keep itself going in the New Year.<\/p>\n<h3>Martins Dzierkals<\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps the most entertaining and interesting player to watch, <strong>Martins Dzierkals<\/strong> has just one assist through two games on a subpar Latvian team. Dzierkals was drafted 68<sup>th<\/sup> overall by the Leafs in 2015 and is currently playing in the QMJHL for Rouyn-Noranda. There, he has 27 points in 22 games played, respectable production.<\/p>\n<p>What makes Dzierkals fun to watch is how shifty and quick he is. He has the agility and\u00a0the speed to make it difficult for defenders to read the play.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Balcers gets creative with a great toe drag before scoring Latvia&#39;s first of the game. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CanadianTire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CanadianTire<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BigPlay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BigPlay<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JLvAqi0ZFz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/JLvAqi0ZFz<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u5D0e74NC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/u5D0e74NC6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TSN (@TSN_Sports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TSN_Sports\/status\/813870230602588160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 27, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Not only is he a fun player to watch but <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/scottcwheeler\/status\/813898388831866880\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his interview performance<\/a>\u00a0is on point.<\/p>\n<h3>Joseph Woll<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Joseph Woll<\/strong> was the only goalie drafted by Toronto in last year\u2019s draft, taken 62<sup>nd<\/sup> overall, just a few spots after Grundstrom. The American netminder has only appeared in one game for team USA, getting the win against Slovakia.<\/p>\n<p>The 18 year-old goalie regularly plays for Boston College in the NCAA as a freshman\u00a0with 17 starts this season. Woll sits in the top 20 in save-percentage for goalies with a minimum of 10 games played. Not too bad for a freshman. As one of the few goalie prospects Toronto has, keep an eye out for Woll in years to come.<\/p>\n<p>Through the tournaments early goings Leafs prospects are shining. Toronto fans can only hope the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/637052306\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/637052306?et=A8SaHSsfT9BJ06zJj0xmkg&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=F3_eFEKPlZDBMgpKgMICPJOJTNLByAUDzmX09eYy2Ss=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Maple Leafs Prospects are on display at the 2017 World Junior Championship. The next wave of young players look promising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2877,1081,37,1080,72],"class_list":["post-4756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","tag-2017-world-junior-hockey-championship","tag-carl-grundstrom","tag-hockey","tag-jeremy-bracco","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}