Joe Colborne has had his struggles adjusting to professional hockey but Dudley has high hopes for him if he works hard on his conditioning over the summer and on his skating with the Leafs' new skating coach, Barb Underhill.
“He is such a big horse, if his cardiovascular fitness is elite and he improves his quickness just a bit, he can become a top-two centre in the NHL for sure,” he said. “If Barb can give Joe Colborne a step, then I think he becomes a bona-fide top-two-line guy in the NHL.”
Trying to improve pure speed is hard, Dudley said, “but you can enhance your quickness,” which is more reaction time than foot speed.
Dudley also thinks two other Leaf prospects are poised for big things - forwards Matt Frattin and Nazem Kadri. At the very least, he said, of Colborne, Frattin and Kadri, “two of them are going to end up being good NHL players and more importantly from a Toronto perspective, they're going to end up contributing a great deal offensively.”