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Fantasy Summary

A fringe NHL player. Capable of being a bottom-six forward with more leadership qualities than scoring.


Observations

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July 2023 – Brooks signed a 2-year, $1,525,000 contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on July 13, 2022, with a cap hit of $762,500. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season. Brooks spent the 2022-23 season in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, with whom he played in 54 games providing 35 points (10 goals and 25 assists). He was named the Phantoms winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Lehigh Valley community during the 2022-23 season. Mark Henry

October 2021 – Brooks was unable to crack the Leafs’ roster and was placed on waivers ahead of the regular season roster deadline. He was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens and is expected to fill a depth role for them this coming season. Nick Richard

April 2021 – Being at the top of the call-up list is good enough for fantasy radars as proven by Brooks’ recent stint with the Leafs. With injuries hitting the teams and Engvall underperforming, Brooks has seen a 4-game audition with the big club and has 2 points to show for it despite averaging roughly 9 minutes per night. He is skating exclusively on the 4th line and not taking faceoffs, but he has passed the eye test, generating create offense in the opposing zone and keeping up with the Leafs’ complete backcheck, even seeing some PK time. His lack of peripheral stats still making him a less-than-ideal streaming candidate in the short term, but he is putting up points and looks like he deserves an extended NHL look somewhere in 2021-22. Hayden Soboleski

February 2021 – Brooks has been loaned to the AHL to begin the Marlies’ campaign. 14 games into the Maple Leafs campaign, Brooks has seen just 1 game of action so this move will allow him to get some top-six ice time. In his brief NHL appearance he did look fantasy-relevant thanks to 1 shot and 1 goal in 8:30 of ice time, however its clear that he is low on the pecking order of depth options so its unlikely he sees enough games this year to bank on any real fantasy impact. Hayden Soboleski

January 2021 – Brooks has cleared waivers and projects to start the 2020-21 campaign on the Leafs’ ‘taxi squad’. His chances of seeing action took a serious hit this offseason thanks to numerous depth additions to the Leafs’ forward corps, but he was a capable injury fill-in when needed last season and he has spent several years on the Marlies learning under now-NHL-coach Keefe. He is unlikely to be a top choice even among his taxi squadmates, but if he does rotate into the lineup he is capable of putting up points (as shown with 3 points in 7 games last year). At such a late stage of development, he is unlikely to achieve more than a 4th-line role going forward. Hayden Soboleski

March 2020 – Brooks hasn’t played since mid-February due an undisclosed injury. The third-year AHLer has been producing at a similar pace as 2018-19 (a slight dip after charging out of the gate in October), and will be among many Marlies competing for a 4th-line Leafs role this fall. Despite being such a brief appearance, his 3 points in 7 NHL call-up games this season will play to his advantage. Hayden Soboleski

January 2020 – Brooks has put up 16 points in 20 AHL games so far this season – meaning that he has impressively managed to increase his scoring rate every year since turning pro. He’s become a top-line staple for the Marlies offense and appears to be seeing more ice time in all situations. His strong play has been rewarded with a call-up to the Maple Leafs, but unfortunately he is seeing under 7 minutes aTOI and is putting up zero fantasy value as a result. Another very promising campaign, but he does not appear to be truly in the plans until 2020-21. Hayden Soboleski

October 2019 – After impressive two-way development throughout 2018-19, Brooks still wasn’t truly in the conversation for a 4th-line role with the Leafs out of pre-season. The added organizational depth brought in over the summer made it a hotly contested role, but Marlies teammate Timashov pulled it off meaning that the opportunity was there. Brooks is off to a strong start with the Marlies with 4 points in 4 games so far, his highest point pace since turning pro. If he can keep this up, he could very well be next year’s bottom-six addition. Hayden Soboleski

June 2019 – Finishing the playoffs with 8 points in 13 games means that Brooks exceeded both his regular-season and post-season totals from his rookie campaign. He is demonstrably able to lead a top-six line, dangerous off the rush or on a cycle down low. He has the tools to audition for a 4th-line role this fall, but he is likely another year away from true full-time consideration. Hayden Soboleski

February 2019 – Brooks still isn’t the offensive force he was in Junior, but his paces all around have improved as a sophomore pro. His points, goals, and SOG have all improved noticeably, without being falsely inflated by powerplay numbers. He remains another year or two away from pushing for a real chance for NHL time, but steps forward like this are always welcome by fantasy owners. Hayden Soboleski

March 2018 – Brooks came to the Marlies this year with very high expectations as his last year in junior had been outstanding with 130 points in 66 games. Brooks got off to a slow start with the Marlies and he found himself a healthy scratch on a regular basis. In Brooks’ first 24 AHL games he had but two assists. In the last 7 games Brooks has two goals and five assists. It seems that he has made the adjustment to the pro game and is now a major part of the Marlies offense heading into a playoff run. Brian Harling

December 2017 – Brooks turned pro this year after finishing a high level junior career with the Regina Pats producing 130 points in 66 games. Brooks is a small player at 5-10 and 175 pounds. He has had some difficulty adapting to the pro game with the Marlies. Brooks has two assists in 17 games and has been a healthy scratch a number of times. It will take at least another season to see if Brooks can make the transition to the pro game but he is off to a very slow start in his pro career. Brian Harling

January 2017 – The undersized, overage, swingman is having another extremely productive season for the Regina Pats. His production of over a pair of points per game is the second best in all of Major Junior hockey. In the past three years, he has accumulated 245 points in 165 regular season games, numbers only accumulated by future superstars. Brooks is doing all this without having elite skills, but through hard-work, determination and understanding of his roles. Not only does he produce, he is just as strong trying to get the puck from opponents. For the most part, he plays a professional quality game in junior, this bodes well for his career as his future will take him into the AHL where production will fall, but he should still fulfill a quality, high minute role as he advances. That said his NHL production and quality is questionable at this point, but is worth gambling on, especially with the quality of teammates he is likely to have going forward. He was one of the more mature players the Leafs laid claim to in the 2016 draft. Jason Banks

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 3.0
NHL Certainty 5.0
Country CAN
Position C
Roster Type Minors
Shoot/Glove Left
Date of Birth May 6, 1996
Height 6‘0”
Weight 179 lbs
Drafted 2016 Round 4; Overall: 92

Stats

 Season Team League GP G A TP PIM      Playoffs GP G A TP PIM 
 2008-2009 Winnipeg North Stars PWQC Int PW2 1 12 0|        
 2009-2010 Winnipeg Hawks U14 AAAWAAA U1430 59 44103 20|        
 2010-2011 Winnipeg Hawks U15 AAAWAAA U1530 53 3790 10|        
  Winnipeg Hawks U17 AAAWAAA U173 1 12 0|        
 2011-2012 Winnipeg Thrashers U18 AAAMU18HL37 17 2441 6|Playoffs7 1 34
  Team Manitoba WCCC-164 4 15 -|        
  Canada U16 YOG6 5 27 6|        
 2012-2013 Regina PatsWHL55 4 812 13|        
  Canada Western U17WHC-175 1 01 2|        
 2013-2014 Regina PatsWHL60 4 711 24|Playoffs4 0 11
 2014-2015 Regina PatsWHL64 30 3262 18|Playoffs9 4 37
 2015-2016 Regina PatsWHL72 38 82120 30|Playoffs12 7 1623
 2016-2017 Regina PatsWHL66 43 87130 61|Playoffs17 5 1318 12 
 2017-2018 Toronto MarliesAHL57 8 1119 2|Playoffs20 2 46
 2018-2019 Toronto MarliesAHL61 21 1940 28|Playoffs13 6 28
 2019-2020 Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7 0 33 0|        
  Toronto MarliesAHL29 9 1120 19|        
 2020-2021 Toronto Maple LeafsNHL11 4 15 0|Playoffs2 0 00
  Toronto MarliesAHL17 4 913 6|        
 2021-2022 Montréal CanadiensNHL4 0 11 0|        
  Vegas Golden KnightsNHL7 2 02 2|        
  Henderson Silver KnightsAHL5 0 33 0|        
  Winnipeg JetsNHL14 0 00 0|        
 2022-2023 Lehigh Valley PhantomsAHL54 10 2535 31|Playoffs3 1 23
 2023-2024 Lehigh Valley PhantomsAHL37 9 1019 10|        

Highlights