The Cleveland Monsters have made it to the dance as the lowest ranked seed of the North Division playoffs. The luck of the draw gifted them the Toronto Marlies, the affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto has had a successful developmental system lately, including the success of Alex Steeves; Joseph Woll; Alex Nylander; Dakota Mermis; and Dennis Hildeby.

Columbus has had a better stockpile develop internally, including James Malatesta, Jordan Dumais, Denton Mateychuk, Mikael Pyyhita, and Luca Del Bel Belluz.

The injuries on the main roster for the Jackets and exodus of players in the last summer created more openings for new players to grow and help the new cast come into the organization.

Trey Fix-Wolansky continues to be the star down in Cleveland, as he is in the top 15 of league point scoring. Through two general managers and multiple coaches, he has not been able to stay on the main roster. Maybe his luck will come soon.

Projected Lineups

Toronto

Joesph Blandisi — shorthanded goals leader with 3 SHG.
Logan Shaw
Matthew Barbolini
Marko Sikic
Sam Stevens
Ryan Kirwan
Nick Abruzzese
Roni Hirvonen
Kyle Clifford
Alex Steeves — 8th in regular season scoring with 36 goals and 26 assists; 62 points in 59 games. 36 was second in league goal scoring, only behind Matej Blumel of Texas.
Brandon Baddock — penalty minutes leader with 97PIMs.
Cedric Pare
Jacob Quillan
Luke Haymes
Braeden Kressler
Reese Johnson
Zach Solow
Ryan Tverberg
Borya Valis
Alex Nylander - was with Columbus last season after Emil Bemstrom trade; team worst -12.
Robert Masteosimmone

Tommy Miller
John Prokop
Topi Niemela
Cade Webber
Nicolas Mattinen
Matt Benning
William Villeneuve — assist leader for Marlies with 36 in 55 games; also led in plus +17.
Chas Sharpe
Marshall Rifai
Mikko Kokkonen

Matt Murray — best GAA @ 1.55GAA and save percentage at 0.934.
Dennis Hildeby — wins leader with 17
Vyacheslav Peksa

Ryan Hardy General Manager
John Gruden Head Coach
Michael Dyck Assistant Coach
Steve Sullivan Assistant Coach
Hannu Toivonen Goaltending Coach
Troy Paquette Video Coach

Cleveland Monsters

Luca Del Bel Belluz — leading goal scorer on club with 27 in season; plus leader with +6.
James Malatesta
Owen Sillinger
Joseph LaBate Jr.
Curtis Hall
Dylan Gambrell
Justin Pearson
Stefan Matteau — Captain
Ryland Mosley
Roman Achan — SHG leader with 3.
Hunter McKown
Cameron Butler
Gavin Brindley
Luca Pinelli
Trey Fix-Wolansky — leading team scorer; 13th best in league with 60 points; tied for lead in PPG with LDBB at 8.
Mikael Pyyhita
Jordan Dumais
Rocco Grimaldi — leading assist producer; 18th in league scoring with 58 points.
Max McCue — team leader in penalty minutes at 122 and worst minus at -11.

Will MacKinnon
Corson Ceulemans
Stanislav Svozil
Madison Bowey
Drew Bavro
Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm
Denton Mateychuk — team PPG leader at 0.93; AHL All Star.
Samuel Knazko
Daemon Hunt
Guillaume Richard
Cole Clayton — IOA man of the year

Pavel Cajan
Evan Gardner
Zach Sawchenko
Jet Greaves

Chris Clark General Manager
Trent Vogelhuber Head Coach
Chris Bergeron Associate Coach
Mark Letestu Assistant Coach
Brad Thiessen Goaltending Coach
Mike Monti Video Coach


Players to Watch

Toronto — Alex Steeves — leading point scorer

Cleveland — Trey Fix-Wolansky — leading point scorer


Predicted Final Score

TOR — 2

CLE — 3

2OT


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