Jacob Quillan didn’t make the most of a late look with Maple Leafs

The Leafs have a fair number of NCAA free agent success stories that warrant their continued acquisition of undrafted talent. No matter what your opinion is of Tyler Bozak overall, he was unquestionably an NCAA free agency success story. Same can be said of Ben Scrivens and Bobby McMann. The list could go on. An equal list could be made of players like Brayden Irwin, Tyler Brennan, and Christian Hanson who were worth a look in the organization but would up being better suited for the AHL.

That begs the question, where does Jacob Quillan fit into this picture as player who has now had 24 NHL games to make his case for being re-signed and continuing his career with the Maple Leafs organization.

How the season went

For most of the season we are talking about Quillan as an AHL player and he thrived there. He put up 36 points in 40 games following an AHL rookie season last year with 37 points in 67 games. The guy is a solid two-way centre option in the AHL and the Marlies are lucky to have him. A reliable top six centre in the AHL, even if not a player that you have high hopes for developmentally is an important part of developing the offensive abilities of other highly regarded prospects. Quillan has been useful and will be useful if the Maple Leafs keep him beyond this season.

There’s also no denying that his performance earned him a look in the NHL. It was surprising that it didn’t happen sooner for him, with just four games played with the Leafs before March and not exceeding nine minutes of ice time in any of those games, but the trade deadline opened a door for Quillan to get a fair look. He didn’t really make his case.

It took 12 games into Quillan’s recall from the Marlies in March before he picked up his first NHL point and there still wasn’t much interest in using him beyond ten minutes a night for the most part. He hit, he brought energy, and he eventually started to get a handle on faceoffs, and with bottom six forwards on a lottery team for linemates, I guess Quillan’s offence might still have the potential to emerge down the road, but fourteen shots in his 23 games last season is a bit of an indicator that it’s not likely to come in abundance.

Quillan met the fundamentals you’d ask for from a fourth line centre but the arrival of Bo Groulx put things in a context, and the reality is that Jacob is likely a solid AAAA player that belongs in the AHL for the most part, but you’d be happy to have his speed and energy when depth truly gets tested.

Statistical profile

All stats on 5-on-5 via Natural Stat Trick, Quillan played 199 minutes 5v5. 

Given that this is Quillan’s first real look at the NHL and he’s doing it on a bad team coached by Craig Berube who already has a tendency to skew differentials well into negative values, maybe these atrocious numbers shouldn’t be treated as the long term outlook on Quillan. There is no need for the organization to fully cut ties with him and give up on a depth centre when the team isn’t sure what is coming next for it and shouldn’t judge any of their under-25 year old talent too harshly.

That said, if you are looking at these numbers, they are bad. Playing mainly with Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok didn’t do Quillan any favours and while he was never going to get favourable placement in the lineup like Easton Cowan (for many reasons including the talent gap between them), Quillan has shown he has something to give at the AHL level which justifies a second chance.

I’m not sure if many fans will lose sleep over the fate of Jacob Quillan’s next contract and if it is with the Leafs or elsewhere but it might not hurt to see what he can do after a new GM implements their organizational changes.

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