Leafs opt against common wisdom in betting on Brooks, other late bloomers

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. – Some NHL teams don’t believe in drafting players like Adam Brooks.

The Toronto Maple Leafs selected the 20-year-old centre — an “overager” in hockey parlance — in the fourth round of last month’s NHL draft.

Teams typically pass entirely on overagers, or wait until late rounds to draft them, fearing the limitations of their upside. The ceiling is thought to be lower for a 20-year-old than someone two years younger.

“I think there are still teams that have that philosophy, that they don’t draft them,” said John Paddock, formerly an NHL head coach and GM now serving in both roles for Brooks’ Regina Pats.

Brooks bucked that trend as the Leafs made him the first overall pick in the fourth round.

“If you’ve done something special you can get people’s attention,” said Paddock.

Brooks, who was passed over two years in a row, got Toronto’s attention after storming to the top of the WHL with 120 points last season, nearly double his production from the previous season.

A scoring type when he entered the WHL, Brooks wasn’t employed that way initially with the Pats. In fact, the now reigning scoring champion combined for a measly 23 points in his first two seasons.

“I think what was happening with him was the previous regime didn’t recognize or think he had that skill at all so he was never put in any (offensive) opportunities,” Paddock said. “He grew through some really tough times. They probably don’t have to be quite as tough as he had to endure the first two years.”

Paddock recognized the skill when he took over, but it wasn’t until halfway through his first season that even he doled out power-play time to Brooks, who emerged with 62 points before exploding for close to double that this past season.

“A lot of things in the WHL has to do with development and opportunity and when we switched coaches they gave guys the chance to develop and to make a mistake and learn from it also so I think that helped me out a lot,” Brooks said this week from the Maple Leafs development camp in Niagara Falls.

Paddock, who coached and managed the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators previously, said he heard that some NHL teams viewed Brooks as a player with only two years of junior experience “because he played so little” early on.

“He didn’t only just get 11 points, he never played,” Paddock said of Brooks’ first season. “He never played when he was 16.”

Brooks, then 19, would have benefited from an age advantage last season, a reality that sometimes complicates the evaluation process for overage players. What’s the best way to evaluate a player when he’s facing competition sometimes two and three years younger?

Projection might be a touch easier though for a slightly older player. The ceiling may be lower, but there’s a better sense of what that player can become and he may be ready to contribute sooner. Andrew Shaw, now of the Montreal Canadiens, was passed over twice at the draft before being selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2011.

He was on their NHL team and contributing just a few months later.

The Leafs picked not one, but five overagers last month. While Paddock can only speculate as to why he wonders if, with a bounty of picks in recent years and only so many contracts to hand out, the club took chances on players like Brooks.

Listed at five foot 10 and 175 pounds, Brooks says his best attribute is seeing the ice and slowing the game down to make plays in the offensive end. He said it was “surreal” being at the Leafs development camp given how unlikely that prospect looked not long ago.

“I think guys develop at all different times,” Brooks said. “For me, I think I’m a little bit of a late bloomer.”

“I’m going to try to get better every day,” he added, “and just do everything I can to make an impression.”