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The Toronto Maple Leafs won convincingly in the exhibition home opener against Montreal on Saturday, but turnabout is fair play and on Monday, the Habs were dominant in a 5-2 win at the Bell Centre.
David Kampf and Ondrej Kase scored for Toronto, but the Canadiens took advantage of the Leafs undisciplined play, scoring three times on the power play and taking a 3-0 lead midway through the second period.
Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek split time in the game, Campbell was victimized by some porous defensive play and allowed three goals, while Mrazek only allowed one goal on eight shots, making an impressive glove save on a Josh Anderson breakaway in the third period.
In the battle for roster spots, Nick Ritchie played his “protector” role on the top line, getting into a bout with Habs defenseman Ben Chiarot, while Kampf went 65% on faceoffs and scored on a fluky short-handed goal. Adam Brooks scored a goal called back on an off-sides review on a setup from Mitch Marner and led the Leafs with four shots on goal.
On the negative side, Ilya Mikheyev failed once again to convert on the Leafs best scoring opportunity early in the game, undercutting his case to play higher in the lineup. Nikita Gusev was practically invisible in his first game, not helping his case to earn a pro contract.
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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 - Jeremy McKenna – RW (Wichita – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#39 – Ryan Tverberg – C (Connecticut – NCAA)
#38 – Ryan O’Connell – D (Ohio State – NCAA)
#37 - Semyon Kizimov – RW (Lada Togliatti – VHL / Torpedo – KHL)
#36 - Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Waterloo – USHL)
#35 - Kalle Loponen – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga)
#34 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Cherepovets Severstal/Moscow Spartak – KHL)
#33 - Kirill Semyonov – C (Avangard Omsk – KHL)
#32 - William Villeneuve – D (Saint John – QMJHL)
#31 - Ty Voit – LW (Sarnia – OHL)
#30 – Joe Miller – C(Chicago – USHL
#29 - Brennan Menell – D (Minsk Dynamo – KHL)
#28 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA)
#27 - Axel Rindell – D (Jukurit – Finland SM-Liiga)
#26 - Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Toronto - AHL)
#25 - Alex Steeves – C (Notre Dame – NCAA)
#24 - Teemu Kivihalme - D (Toronto - AHL)
#23 - Kristians Rubins - D (Toronto - AHL / Frederikshavn - Denmark)
#22 - Ian Scott – G (Toronto - AHL)
#21 – Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA)
#20 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL)
#19 – Filip Kral - D (Kometa Brno – Czech, Toronto - AHL)
The Leafs selected four blueliners at the 2018 Draft and Kral (playing for Spokane of the WHL) was chosen in the fifth round (149th overall). In three seasons with the Chiefs, the Czech native showed significant growth, scoring 35, 36 and 49 points and playing for the Czech Republic in the 2018 and 2019 World Junior Championships.
As with the other defensemen (Rasmus Sandin and Mac Hollowell) selected by GM Kyle Dubas in his first draft, the 6’2”, 194 lb. blueliner is heavy on skill, skating ability and hockey IQ in the offensive zone
Toronto faced a signing deadline with Kral, and locked him up on a three-year entry-level deal in April 2020. The plan was to play him in either the ECHL or American Hockey League last season, but with both leagues shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Leafs sent the blueliner back home to get some playing time.
After averaging over a point per game for second-tier HC Prerov, Kral was promoted to HC Kometa Brno, scoring 21 points (6 goals, 15 assists) in 48 games and joined the Marlies for 10 games during their abbreviated schedule. It is expected that the 21-year-old will play with the Marlies or Newfoundland, wherever he can get consistemt playing time.
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