Knies check-in, Niemelä & Hirvonen watch, Minten on fire: Leafs Prospect Roundup

The home stretch of the NHL regular season is upon us, and that means that prospects in other leagues around the world are also wrapping up their seasons. The most notable of those prospects for Leafs fans is undoubtedly Matthew Knies, who is winding down his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota.
Knies and his Gophers teammates earned a first-round bye in the BIG10 tournament after finishing first in the conference, but they were back in action this past weekend in a semifinal matchup against Michigan State. Things started slowly for Minnesota as they worked to get their legs under them after so much time off, but they walked away with a tidy win in Saturday’s single-elimination game against the Spartans, advancing to the BIG10 Championship game against the Michigan Wolverines for the second consecutive year.
Down 1-0 in the opening frame, the Gophers’ powerplay got to work with Knies setting up Jaxon Nelson on the doorstep to tie the game. Minnesota never looked back from there, and Michigan State had no answer as the Gophers piled up five unanswered goals to come away with the victory. Fellow Leafs prospect Mike Koster also notched a pair of assists in Saturday’s semifinal.

Matthew Knies sets up Jaxon Nelson ou …

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Author: Nick Richard / The Leafs Nation

Sem Robberse dazzles, Orelvis Martinez has a good day at the plate, and more as the Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 2-0

Last season, the Blue Jays had a 16-3 record against the trash Boston Red Sox. On Friday afternoon, their dominance continued.

Coming into the game, the Red Sox had a perfect 9-0 record, but that was promptly ended with a 2-0 defeat to the beloved Blue Jays.
Blue Jays Nation’s player of the game: Sem Robberse
In only his second appearance of the spring, the 21-year-old Dutchman showed us why he’s one of Toronto’s best pitching prospects.
He struck out Christian Koss, Triston Casas, and Adam Duvall in his first inning of work (with a single to Christian Arroyo). In his second inning of work, he generated two ground balls, walked an MLB batter in Bobby Dalbec, and got Stephen Scott to flyout.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Robberse has the floor of a back-end of the rotation starter. He’s also added muscle this off-season, which has seen his average velocity jump to 93-95 mph. On top of that, he’s a pitcher with great command and nasty stuff. So yeah, keep an eye out for Robberse next season.

Here’s Sem “The Pitching Dutchman” Robberse (@SemRobberse)’s strikeout and whiff edit from this afternoon.
A Double-A start is probable, but it’s not out of the question that we see the 21-year-old pitch in Triple-A in 2023.#BlueJays pic.twitter.com/48URgp5nXC
— Brennan Delaney (@Brennan_L_D) March 10, 2023

Things worth mentioning:
Orelvis Martinez had a good day at the plate. In his first plate appearance, he drew a walk on a 3-2 count (embedded at the end of the article). In his seco …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

The Honour Roll: Final grades for the whole trade season

It’s final over. The trade season and all the rumours and speculation finished until the 10 minutes after the Leafs (hopefully long) playoff run is over. Exhale. It’s time to talk about hockey.
Before we get all the way back to the business of watching games, we need to grade the work of Kyle Dubas. It seems like there are two sets of grades that need to happen, the ones now based entirely on the optics of the transaction, and the ones that will come later with the benefit of hindsight of whether or not everyone did what they were supposed to do. We’ll see if we remember to do that. For now, here are the final thoughts on the Leafs trade deadline.
Colin Hunter: A-
Taken as a whole, Kyle Dubas’ “trade deadline” – being the moves he made from Ryan O’Reilly / Noel Acciari onwards – was great.
While you can analyze each trade individually, the current roster as a unit feels much stronger. While in my ideal world the team would have added one more scoring forward, the forward group overall has become much more versatile, and the bottom six seems to now have an identity – which it has lacked this season. Defensively, depth has certainly b …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Canadians to Watch Amongst the Top 25 Programs in Division I Baseball this season

As the college baseball season is right around the corner for many teams across the United States, there are tons of Canadians represented across numerous Division I, II, and III programs and in JUCO ball from coast to coast.

Using the D1 Baseball preseason rankings, let’s look at the Canadian players present on the rosters of the Top 25 teams in Division I baseball programs heading into the 2023 season. I utilized the Canadian Baseball Network’s Canadians intent page for assistance in making this list as well as going to each program’s roster. Some players listed below may not be on the official roster at the time of writing but have committed to the program.
Micah Bucknam – Lousiana State University (#2)
Born in New Zealand, Micah Bucknam grew up in Abbotsford, British Columbia and was a Canadian Junior National team member. Those Blue Jays fans who follow the MLB Draft will likely remember Bucknam’s name, as he was drafted by the club in the 16th round of the 2021 MLB Draft but chose not to sign. At the time, he had a commitment to the University of Washington but he reclassified for the 2022 MLB Draft and also committed to LSU, with Bucknam spending the 2022 season in the MLB Draft League.

Micah Bucknam of Abbotsford, BC goes to the @BlueJays in the 16th round, 482nd overall!#MLBD …

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Author: Tyson Shushkewich / Blue Jays Nation

Is Fred VanVleet’s improved play here to stay after Raptors beat Rockets?

Is Fred VanVleet’s improved play here to stay after Raptors beat Rockets?

This season has not gone according to plan for the Toronto Raptors, but it was incredibly disappointing on a multitude of levels, but the poor play of All-Star guard Fred VanVleet was one of the most shocking developments. After a historic season last year, VanVleet has looked completely out of sync for weeks at a […]
Is Fred VanVleet’s improved play here to stay after Raptors beat Rockets? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

The Leafs 2023-24 Cap Situation vs. trade targets with term

The Leafs 2023-24 Cap Situation vs. trade targets with term

Looking at the Leafs cap situation for the rest of this season it is easy to determine how the trade deadline shakes out for the Leafs. If Muzzin doesn’t return the Leafs have the necessary space to add players, especially with salary retention. Trading Alex Kerfoot’s salary away (or Engvall’s or Holl’s for that matter, but Kerfoot’s is the priority for a couple of reasons) allows the Leafs to do something in addition to that Muzzin cap space or it becomes the alternative to it if Muzzin will be returning. The Leafs might not have a ton to work with, but they can be deadline players.
The biggest catch seems to be with the prices potentially being paid and the high value associated with a 2023 1st round pick, there is a desire to avoid rental players. Kyle Dubas has made it known that he prefers players with term, but the past couple of years have seen the Leafs primarily focus on expiring contracts and this year may be more of the same, especially given the Leafs cap situation going forward.
A quick look at the Leafs cap situation for 2023-24 shows that Toronto has $69.82M committed to Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Robertson, Jarnkrok, R …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Raptors’ asking price for in-demand stars considered ‘astronomical’

The Toronto Raptors are struggling at the moment, as a season that seemed full of promise not too long ago now appears to be destined for failure. They are 16-23 overall and 3-11 over their past 14 games. Not many would have seen this coming from a team that had finished fifth in the Eastern […]
Raptors’ asking price for in-demand stars considered ‘astronomical’ – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Sourav Mahanty / Raptors HQ

Latest Raptors mock draft has Toronto adding brilliant scoring wing

Latest Raptors mock draft has Toronto adding brilliant scoring wing

Toronto Raptors mock draft season is starting to draw closer, as Masai Ujiri has seen his team move closer to winning the Victor Wembanyama lottery than making the postseason. The Raptors have some very clear needs that he needs to address in the draft, starting with their lack of height and electricity on the offensive […]
Latest Raptors mock draft has Toronto adding brilliant scoring wing – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

Appreciating William Nylander’s hot start to the 2022–23 season with the Maple Leafs

Appreciating William Nylander’s hot start to the 2022–23 season with the Maple Leafs

William Nylander has been on fire in the early season for the Leafs.

For a player that was subject to a high degree of criticism for a significant time, let’s appreciate what he has done thus far.
His overtime winner against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday secured the win and gave him 21 goals and 19 assists for 40 points in just 35 games. These marks are good for first on the team in goals and tied for second in points.

WILLIAM NYLANDER 🚨
OVERTIME WINNER pic.twitter.com/wI32M3gXYC
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) December 28, 2022

This play, to me, displays the best aspects of Nylander’s game. Obviously, his offensive abilities are outstanding — skating, hands, and finishing ability. However, an underrated aspect of Nylander’s game is his ability to generate turnovers in both the offensive and defensive zones. He is currently listed as being third on the team in takeaways, behind only Matthews and Marner. Here, he reads Tarasenko perfectly, stripping him of the puck and immediately generating an offensive opportunity.
It’s not as if this is some unpredictable breakout – Nylander has finished just below a point per game in each of the past three seasons. However, the valuable development this season has been his jump in goal scoring. Currently, Nylander is on pace for 48 goals over 82 games. This mark would be good for a 14-goal career high.
Goal scoring is obviously an incredibly important element of any team. For the Leafs this season, however, Nylander’s increased production in this area has been of particular importan …

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Author: Colin Hunter / The Leafs Nation

Iowa’s Kris Murray would be an ideal Toronto Raptors draftee

Iowa’s Kris Murray would be an ideal Toronto Raptors draftee

After a 48-win season and Scottie Barnes securing the Rookie of the Year award, the Toronto Raptors were expected to challenge the top teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. Instead, the Raptors barely cling to a play-in playoff position at #10 in the East. It’s been a rough start to the season with injuries constantly […]
Iowa’s Kris Murray would be an ideal Toronto Raptors draftee – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Jason Mills / Raptors HQ