The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall, Travis Dermott and Justin Holl, but the next step for the club under GM Kyle Dubas is to keep replenishing the prospect pool to provide the Leafs with youngsters who can step up and replace veterans who retire, depart via free agency or are traded.
As we did last year, we will rank the club’s top prospects over the next few weeks based on their progress in either the NCAA, CHL, Europe, ECHL, or AHL and their potential to make the Leafs roster and make a contribution in the future.
Players are eligible for the list if they have not played more than 40 NHL games:
#40 – J.D. Greenway – D (Maine – NCAA)
#39 – Eemeli Rasanen – D (HPK – Finland SM-Liiga)
#38 – Jeremy McKenna – RW (Moncton – QMJHL)
#37 – Ryan O’Connell – D (Ohio State – NCAA)
#36 – Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA)
#35 - Semyon Kizimov – RW (Lada Togliatti – VHL / Torpedo – KHL)
#34 - Kalle Loponen – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga)
#33 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Cherepovets Severstal – KHL)
#32 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA)
#31 - Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Waterloo – USHL)
#30 - William Villeneuve – D (Saint John – QMJHL)
#29 - Joe Miller – C (Chicago – USHL)
#28 - Axel Rindell – D (Jukurit – Finland SM-Liiga)
#27 - Kristians Rubins - D (Toronto - AHL / Frederikshavn - Denmark)
#26 - Justin Brazeau - RW (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL)
#25 – Dmitry Ovchinnikov – F (Sibir Novosibirsk – MHL/KHL)
#24 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL)
#23 – Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Ottawa – OHL / Wichita ECHL)
#22 – Roni Hirvonen – C (Assat Pori – Finland SM-Liiga)
#21 – Teemu Kivihalme - D (Toronto - AHL)
#20 – Pontus Holmberg – LW (Vaxjo HC – SHL
#19 – Filip Kral - D (HC Prerov / Kometa Brno - Czech)
#18 – Ian Scott – G (Toronto - AHL)
#17 - Joseph Duszak - D (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL)
#16 – Mac Hollowell - D (Newfoundland – ECHL / Toronto – AHL / TuTo Turku – Finland Mestis)
#15 -Topi Niemela – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga)
The Toronto Maple Leafs went heavy on European prospects in Kyle Dubas third year as GM, which may have been a smart tactic with a longer development window available to them. Dubas once again moved down in the 2020 NHL Draft to get extra picks, trading a mid-second rounder to Ottawa for a late second (Roni Hirvonen) and a third round pick, that the Leafs used to select 18-year-old defenseman Topi Niemela.
The Finnish blueliner played 43 games and tallied seven points (1 goal, 6 assists) as a 17-year-old with Karpat in the SM-Liiga, and was looked upon by Toronto as an excellent two-way prospect.
“He's a really good defender, really quick to close gaps, take away time and space.” Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley said in October. “(Niemela is) a first pass guy, not necessarily going to run your power play. Good instincts....not the biggest guy, so not overly physical at this time since he's playing against men, (but) one of the best defensive instincts in the entire draft.”
Niemela seemed to exceed Toronto’s expectations with his performance at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships, as the 18-year-old led the tournament in defensive scoring with eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in seven games. The speedy Finn was extremely effective distributing and rushing the puck as a power play quarterback and in spite of not being a big defender showed a willingness to stand up physically to the opposition.
“He’s a strong skater in both directions and has very impressive lateral movement.” EP Rinkside’s Lassi Alanen said prior to the draft. (Niemela is) a confident player with the puck, showing no fear against forecheckers in Liiga. He can distribute the puck through layers on the breakout and also has the feet to carry the puck up the ice himself. Defensively, he was able to hold his own against pro-level opposition.”
Those traits were apparent at the World Junior and resulted in a Leafs prospect earning the tournament’s Best Defenseman for the second year in a row.
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Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe updated the injury status of Alex Kerfoot, who was banged up in practice on Tuesday. The center responded well to treatment, but Keefe indicated that he is day-to-day with the unspecified injury.
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