“Where are they now?”: Prospects traded from the 2019 deadline to the end of 2021

On Sunday evening, I had a Twitter thread about prospects that had been traded since the 2019 trade deadline. This thread popped off, but a lot of Twitter folks were asking if I could go more in depth with these prospects.

That’s what this article will cover. Please note that I’ve excluded players such as T.J Zeuch, Yennesy Diaz, Sean Reid Foley, Hector Perez and Andrew McInvale. These players are either too old for me to consider prospects, or they aren’t good enough to make the majors.
I also won’t be including players from the recent Matt Chapman trade, at least until the trade deadline article.
Also make note that this will be the first in a series of three articles. One will come around the trade deadline and one will come at the end of the season. Not just that, but it’s possible that I’ll also cover the players traded during the 2015 season if you’re interested.
With all that being said, I hope you enjoy this article.
Cal Stevenson:
Along with former all-star Aaron Sanchez (who plays for the Rochester Red Wings) and Joe Biagini (Buffalo Bisons), the then 22-year-old outfielder was traded to the Houston Astros for Derek Fisher.
Stevenson was originally drafted out of community college by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, but he elected to pursue further education. Two years later, the outfielder was drafted in the 10th round of the 2018 draft out of Arizona by the Blue Jays. 
In his first …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Team Canada Women’s Team announced for the Olympics at Beijing 2022

Yesterday, the “Team Canada” Olympics Twitter page announced the 23 women who will represent the nation in Beijing.
The women get ready to avenge their loss to the rival Americans, who they lost 3-2 against in the Gold medal game in the 2018 Winter Olympics, winning the Silver. The Canadians had been on a Gold-winning streak since 2002, four years of Gold in a row, until the Americans broke that combo.
Team Canada will bring 13 returning players this year, with 10 fresh faces to round out the team. Principal returnees are forwards Marie-Philippe Poulin and Rebecca Johnston, who are both returning for their fourth Olympics and seeking their third Gold medals.
Here is the full team for this quadrennial competition:
GoaltendersKristen Campbell (Brandon, MB)Ann-Renée Desbiens (La Malbaie, QC)Emerance Maschmeyer (Bruderheim, AB)
DefenceErin Ambrose (Keswick, ON)Ashton Bell (Deloraine, MB)Renata Fast (Burlington, ON)Jocelyne Larocque (Ste. Anne, MB)Ella Shelton (Ingersoll, ON)Claire Thompson (Toronto, ON)Micah Zandee-Hart (Saanichton, BC)
ForwardsEmily Clark (Saskatoon, SK)Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, QC)Sarah Fillier (Georgetown, ON)Brianne Jenner (Oakville, ON)Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, ON)Emma Maltais (Burlington, ON)Sarah Nurse (Hamilton, ON)Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, QC)Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, ON)Jillian Saulnier (Halifax, NS)Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, ON)Laura Stacey (Kleinburg, ON)Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, NS)
(Thanks to eliteprospects.com for all of the player profiles, and to olympic.ca for the player list)
With only 6 players from the GTA, the Olympic team certainly isn’t taking cues from the Maple Leafs on how to build a hockey team. Perhaps that’s for the best, as much as we love the players that have come home in Toronto…
After leading Canada in scoring in the previous Olympics, Melodie Daoust is back on the team again, and will certainly play an important role, and being the MVP in the 2021 World Championships.
In between Daoust topping Canada’s scoring charts, it was Natalie Spooner who led the team in the 2019 World Championships, where Canada failed to make the final round and only secured Bronze, with Finland losing to USA in the final.
But as you saw, Canada won the tournament last year, so they’re in a good position to win again in the Olympics.
On the back end, one of the major returnees is veteran Jocelyn Larocque, who has been the focal point of Canada’s defense post-Vancouver in 2010.
Gearing up for the Olympics, Larocque …

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Author: Ryan Hobart / The Leafs Nation

Mike Commito talks to TLN about his new book, Hockey 365, The Second Period: More Daily Stories from the Ice

If you follow Mike Commito on Twitter (and if you don’t, why not?) you probably know him as the hockey history guy. Every day he shares really cool, sometimes well known and sometimes lesser known, “on this day” moments from the history of hockey. And if you follow him on Twitter, you probably know that he turned some of those moments into an incredible book – Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice.  
And maybe you also know that tomorrow, September 28th, the second volume, Hockey 365, The Second Period: More Daily Stories from the Ice, will be available for purchase (and if you didn’t, now you do.)
But what you might not know is that Mike has TLN to thank for launching his hockey writing career!
…Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit. But Mike does have a bit of history (pun intended) with TLN, and I was lucky enough to speak with him about how he got started writing about hockey, how he brought his two passions together, the books, and his hopes for future projects.
I first asked Mike to tell me and our TLN readers about how he got started writing, and tweeting, hockey history. It was …

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Author: Mer / The Leafs Nation

Santiago Espinal is an everyday player

If you follow me on Twitter or know me in person, you know that writing about specific players is my favourite type of article. While all the crazy happenings of trade deadline day unfolded upon us, I released an article on Sem Robberse.

Now, I usually wait a week or two before releasing another article on a particular player, but I feel as if this one cannot wait. The player in question is not a prospect, he’s here and he’s beautiful.
His name is Santiago Espinal and he is the Toronto Blue Jays starting third baseman.
The beginning:
Before deep-diving into why Espinal is the perfect utility player, it has to be noted how the Blue Jays acquired him. Often there are winners and losers in a trade, this one was different though. On June 28th, 2018, the mediocre Blue Jays sent Steve Pearce to the Boston Red Sox for Santiago Espinal.
To his credit, Pearce was a pretty decent player while playing for the Jays. He was versatile and was an above-average hitter in a Blue Jays uniform. Boston would later go on to win the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Who was the WS MVP? …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

It looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Joseph Woll have a contract extension in place

It looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Joseph Woll have a contract extension in place

Late last night, news broke on Twitter from John Matisz at The Score, that he was hearing the Toronto Maple Leafs are re-signing goalie Joseph Woll to a contract extension. Woll is one of the many goalies in the Maple Leafs system that is up for a contract this off-season so it’s good to hear they are working together to get something done and by the sound of it, John has the details of the term as well.
 
Joseph Woll contract
According to John Matisz, he is hearing Joseph Woll is re-signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a one-year, two-way contract. No official word at this time what the price is, however, we do know it is a one-year, two-way contract for the 23-year-old goalie who will continue to develop down in the AHL and who knows, he might get a shot in an NHL game sometime soon with the Maple Leafs.

Hearing goalie Joseph Woll is re-signing with the Maple Leafs. 1 year, 2-way contract.
— John Matisz (@MatiszJohn) July 17, 2021

Joseph Woll’s stats
Woll is coming off this 2020-21 season in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies playing in only 15 games compared to the 32 he suited up for …

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Author: Joseph Zita / The Leafs Nation

Raptors Draft: Charles Bassey is a perfect Masai Ujiri NBA Draft pick

Raptors Draft: Charles Bassey is a perfect Masai Ujiri NBA Draft pick

Members of Toronto Raptors draft Twitter and some of the most passionate NBA Draft diehards have heard the name Charles Bassey plenty over the last few months. A strong center from Western Kentucky, Bassey has been projected anywhere from the end of the lottery to the top of the second round. The minute this season […]
Raptors Draft: Charles Bassey is a perfect Masai Ujiri NBA Draft pick – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Avishai Sol / Raptors HQ

The Leafs Are Embracing Their New Reputation

In one of the most head-scratching days on Twitter, a new narrative was formed on Friday when tweets from Winnipeg beat reporter Murat Ates suggested that the Toronto Maple Leafs were a dirty team.

Between this hit on Perreault, Zach Hyman’s high-stick on Neal Pionk, and Alex Galchenyuk’s hit on Adam Lowry, Toronto is certainly taking a physical toll on Winnipeg in advance of the playoffs — and it’s not exactly all clean.
— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) April 23, 2021

While this narrative was picked up and explored by the Toronto media, it will no doubt be hilarious to most of the Leafs’ fanbase. A team with some absolute teddy bear personalities like Jack Campbell, Mitch Marner and Joe Thornton couldn’t possibly be a dirty team.
In fact, all we’ve heard for so many years, from the media and a certain section of the fanbase, is that the Leafs are a soft team, they don’t defend themselves, don’t drop the gloves or throw the body. Many have even suggested that “Kyle Dubas hates grit,” and to be fair, there have been times where their game has lacked that element, but to paraphrase a quote from Wayne Simmonds, they start defending …

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Author: Dylan Murphy / The Leafs Nation

Ranking The Free Agent Goalies On Everything BUT On-Ice Performance

Friends, if you follow me on Twitter, you might know that I have a bit of a goalie thing. I love goalies. (almost) All goalies. They’re weird, and intense, and flexible, and fun.
This off-season is showing us an unprecedented number of free-agent goalies. Each time a new name enters the mix, my heart rate picks up a bit.

The NHL doing it’s best to make my dream of an almost entirely goalie Leafs roster a reality. https://t.co/JSz5mQGrtp
— Mer (@MerOutLoud) October 8, 2020

I was told I had to rank my “is for me?” goalie list:

we’re gonna need an “Is for me?” goaltender rankings from you.
— The Leafs Nation (@TLNdc) October 8, 2020

So here we go. My ranking of the free agent goalie list, going off of available information right now, and totally based on my personal opinion of these goalies and nothing analytic at all.
I’m using this list:

The available goalie market right now is pretty insane.
• Henrik Lundqvist• Braden Holtby• Corey Crawford• Anton Khudobin• Jacob Markstrom• Thomas Greiss• Cam Talbot• Jimmy Howard
Certainly isn’t making the Golden Knights job of shopping Fleury any easier. https://t.co/lPtgpv2N5f
— Jesse Granger (@ …

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Author: MerOutLoud / The Leafs Nation

The idea that the Leafs could revive Brandon Montour’s career and why we’re obsessing over reclamation projects

It’s a bit of a running joke in our twitter mentions at this point. Every aged, underperforming free agent that comes available there seems to be a TLN article asking if the Leafs should be in on them. I get it, you’ve seen that story before. It’s also less than a week to free agency and we’ve had a month of nothing to do but think about how the Leafs need to improve. The reality is that even as a very talented team, the Leafs have proved time and time again that talent isn’t going to carry them as far as we want them to go. Roster changes are needed.
The truth behind roster changes being needed brings us to the truth that leads to us exploring the lesser players that are available. The Leafs aren’t exactly sitting on a ton of cap space at the moment. In fact their cap space disappears very quickly once you potentially sign Travis Dermott and Ilya Mikheyev. It’s at best around $5M the Leafs have to work with unless they are making some other changes we don’t know about. That’s why we shop the …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation