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Brandon Prust signed to a PTO

Damn.  I'm really torn on this one.  On one hand this is exactly the kind of move that I don't want to see the team doing and it makes me wonder just where the direction of development is heading.

On the other hand, I grew up with Brandon and this is pretty damn awesome.
 
It's a PTO so there's no risk but I can't really imagine a scenario where Prust makes the team.

Raman Hrabarenka, the other guy the Leafs gave a PTO to, looks kind of interesting. A big defenseman with ok AHL scoring numbers.
 
I think certain members of the front office are showing their bias with this move. Yuck, sorry LK, but don't want this team to become the Toronto Maple Knights!  ;)
 
Someone's gotta take the face punches from the various AHL and ECHL goons that'll be playing in the early pre-season games. Why not Prust?
 
He'd have been a lesser expensive Martin, but doubt they need 2.

Local guy, so maybe a Marlies contract after camp.
 
TLN with a good write up about the potential motives behind the Prust and Hrabarenka PTOs: http://theleafsnation.com/2016/8/22/leafs-sign-brandon-prust-raman-hrabarenka

Prust was known to be unhappy with the trade that sent him to the Canucks, because it distanced him from his fiancee in Montreal. It goes without saying that his hope would be to continue to chase his hockey dream from a closer-to-home venue. The Leafs might not be the right fit for him, but they're an ideal place for him to have his re-audition to general managers across the league as the result of that distance.

In return, the Leafs get a player on a short-term basis who knows the rigors of the league as an enforcer and as a general depth forward. Mentorship has been a drum banged by the brass throughout this process, and training camp is when you'll have most of your prospects around looking for a role model to latch onto. If Prust can't find a job, there might be the option of the Marlies as well; he scored 7 points in his 9-game stint with Utica, so the skill level is presumably still there, and with most travel bus-distance away, it might be a situation that works for him.

As for Hrabarenka, he's a right-handed shot. The Leafs have plenty of now those now in Nikita Zaitsev, Frank Corrado, Connor Carrick, and Roman Polak. But at the AHL level, they presently only have Justin Holl. Hrabarenka might be a second right-handed shot to integrate into the lineup, or he might just be a player that Lou Lamoriello once signed and wants to give one more showcase to before he decides to head back to Europe.
Click to expand...
 
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2016/08/22/lou-lamoriello-on-jhonas-enroth-mark-hunters-promotion-brandon-prusts-pto/

You?re bringing in Prust. We know what kind of player he is. You signed Matt Martin. Did you feel that this team did not have enough of the physical, sandpaper element last year that it?s going to need more of?

Lamoriello: I think that we lacked an ingredient in the lineup. Not that the philosophy of the lineup has changed, not that the speed and the abilities that we?d like to see this team have [has changed]. I just believe, and I know Mike believes the same way, that there were times that some of our players, I don?t think, were allowed to do some of the things that you should be able to do out there. That was one of the reasons, certainly, that Roman Polak was brought back. Also, I think they?re quality people and sometimes people play just a little taller.
Click to expand...

The rest of the interview spans several topics, considering all the activity yesterday: Enroth, Vesey/Scouting/College, PTOs, Hunter's promotion. Worth a read, even though Lou says nothing as usual.
 
herman said:
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2016/08/22/lou-lamoriello-on-jhonas-enroth-mark-hunters-promotion-brandon-prusts-pto/

You?re bringing in Prust. We know what kind of player he is. You signed Matt Martin. Did you feel that this team did not have enough of the physical, sandpaper element last year that it?s going to need more of?

Lamoriello: I think that we lacked an ingredient in the lineup. Not that the philosophy of the lineup has changed, not that the speed and the abilities that we?d like to see this team have [has changed]. I just believe, and I know Mike believes the same way, that there were times that some of our players, I don?t think, were allowed to do some of the things that you should be able to do out there. That was one of the reasons, certainly, that Roman Polak was brought back. Also, I think they?re quality people and sometimes people play just a little taller.
Click to expand...

The rest of the interview spans several topics, considering all the activity yesterday: Enroth, Vesey/Scouting/College, PTOs, Hunter's promotion. Worth a read, even though Lou says nothing as usual.
Click to expand...
I like how candid he is regarding Sparks and Bibeau:

They?re young, they have a ways to go, and when you?re not ready, why put them in that situation?
 
Perhaps he's just insurance to make sure Lupul starts the season on the IR.

I'd have said no chance, but with Martin being signed, clearly the org has more use for sandpaper than I would have thought.
 
Prust, without a contract, is still practicing with the team. He's not allowed to travel with them, but he's getting his reps and osmosizing Babcock's system.

Prust said previously he wouldn't still be here if he didn't believe there was a shot of getting on with Leafs at some point. https://t.co/lH1EEJsuA2
? Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) October 18, 2016
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I could be wrong, but I doubt a 32 year old winger who averages 6 goals a year over 82 has any spot on this rebuilding Leafs team.
 
herman said:
Prust, without a contract, is still practicing with the team. He's not allowed to travel with them, but he's getting his reps and osmosizing Babcock's system.

Prust said previously he wouldn't still be here if he didn't believe there was a shot of getting on with Leafs at some point. https://t.co/lH1EEJsuA2
? Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) October 18, 2016
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Can I practice with the team, sounds fun!
 
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