BY CHRISTOPHER O’NEIL – FAN FUEL BLOGGER



This past weekend, the Toronto Marlies watched as the Norfolk Admirals celebrated their well-earned Calder Cup Championship. Whatever injuries or circumstances fans and media alike want to search for to explain the loss, the Admirals were simply the better team. Toronto Maple Leafs fans should not take the loss too hard though because the run itself was a massive step forward for the Leafs organization.



Of course I am not in any way insinuating that a team’s AHL success guarantees NHL success of the parent club but it gives the club significantly more options in the future. When current NHL players who have won a Calder Cup or played significant time in an AHL playoff series speak of their experience, to a man they will talk about how valuable the experience was. The Leafs prospects on the Marlies got to play two months of meaningful hockey against the best competition in the NHL’s best development league.

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What’s even better is that the best players for the Marlies were their prospects such as Jerry D’Amigo, Matt Frattin, Jake Gardiner, Nicholas Deschamps and Nazem Kadri and not just veterans like Mike Zigomanis and Pascal Dupuis. Of course not all of the Toronto Marlies will become Leafs or NHL hockey players but at the very least they have accelerated their development to the point where they will be knocking on the door or they could be included as legitimate trade pieces to strengthen the main roster.



For some fans though it may be tough to see the forest through the trees. “So what?” some will say, “The Leafs came in 26th place”. To answer that question one only has to look at the current Los Angeles Kings for inspiration and hope.



Of course a fan reading that might have a tough time connecting the Leafs and the Kings but consider the following: the Leafs have finished in the bottom five two times in the past three years. The Kings finished in the bottom five for three consecutive seasons between 2007 and 2009. Of course the Kings used those high picks to build their team right? Not exactly. Thomas Hickey, selected fourth overall in 2007, has never played an NHL game. Drew Doughty, selected second overall in 2008, is one of the best players in the NHL but Brayden Schenn, selected fifth overall in 2009, was traded to the Flyers with their 2007 second round pick Wayne Simmonds for Mike Richards last summer.



So how did the Kings use the draft to build their team? Believe it or not they used the same strategy the Leafs are currently using but the Kings simply further along the trail: the Kings used their AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, to develop a significant portion of their current roster. Dustin Brown, Jonathan Quick, Trevor Lewis, Dwight King, Vyacheslav Voynov, Alec Martinez, Jordan Nolan, Brad Richardson, Andrei Loktionov and Jonathan Bernier all spent time with the Monarchs in the past few seasons.



Beyond that, players like Carter and Richards cut their teeth with the Philadelphia Phantoms while Dustin Penner, Jarret Stoll, Matt Greene, Willie Mitchell, Colin Fraser and Rob Scuderi all spent time in the AHL with other organizations early in their careers. In fact, the only players on the current Kings roster to not play an AHL game are Anze Kopitar (who spent a year in the SEL after being drafted), Drew Doughty and Simon Gagne.



Obviously there are no guarantees that Nazem Kadri will turn into the next Dustin Brown or that Jerry D’Amigo will turn into the next Dwight King but the fact remains that if they do, the AHL will be a necessary stepping stone and the Calder Cup run will go a long way to shaping what will be the Leafs roster in the coming years.



Leaf fans can also take solace in the fact that when Gardiner, Kadri and Frattin likely graduate to the NHL next year, legitimate prospects such as Greg McKegg, Brad Ross and Sam Carrick will be able to take their place with Tyler Biggs, Stuart Percy and whatever player they take in the top five this year, knocking on the door.



While AHL success in no way guarantees NHL success, it is very necessary for player development and while the Leafs may not see the overall results for a few seasons, the Toronto Marlies run can only mean good things for the Leafs in the future.



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