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The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander), but the club under former GM Kyle Dubas replenished their prospect pool to provide the Leafs with young prospects. It will now be up to new GM Brad Treliving to continue that work.
As we did last year, we will rank the club’s top prospects over the upcoming 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 and are 25 years old or younger:
#40 Rodion Amirov
Note: In honor of Amirov after his passing earlier this summer, we will keep him on the Leafs prospect list.
#39 Ryan Chyzowski - LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#38 Dryden McKay - G (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#37 Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Western Michigan – NCAA)
#36 Zach Solow - RW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#35 John Fusco – D (Dartmouth – NCAA)
#34 Kalle Loponen – D (Koo Koo Kouvola/HPK – Finland SM-Liiga)
#33 Noah Chadwick - D (Lethbridge - WHL)
#32 Semyon Kizimov - RW (Nizhnekamsk/Yekaterinberg - KHL)
#31 Max Ellis – RW (Toronto – AHL)
#30 Mikko Kokkonen – D (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#29 Keith Petruzzelli - G (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#28 Braeden Kressler – C (Flint – OHL)
#27 Hudson Malinoski – C (Brooks Bandits – AJHL)
#26 Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St.- NCAA
#25 Dmitry Ovchinnikov – LW (Sibir Novosibirsk – KHL, Toronto - AHL)
#24 Brandon Lisowsky – (Saskatoon – WHL)
#23 Dennis Hildeby - G (Farjestad - SHL, Toronto - AHL)
#22 Ryan Tverberg – C (Connecticut – NCAA, Toronto - AHL)
#21 Vladislav Kara - LW (Podolsk Vityaz - KHL)
#20 Semyon Der-Argushintsev - C (Toronto - AHL)
#19 Nikita Grebyonkin - RW (Khabarovsk/Magnitogorsk - KHL)
#18 Easton Cowan – LW (London – OHL)
The Toronto Maple Leafs left a number of observers scrambling for information and scratching their heads at the end of the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, when they selected London Knights winger Easton Cowan.
Cowan was finished third in OHL rookie scoring with 53 points (20 goals, 33 assists) and broke out for London in the playoffs with 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) in 20 games.
Elite Prospects described Cowan as a “highly intelligent and creative forward. He creates opportunities by outspeeding and outdangling the opposition. Cowan's hockey sense matches the quickness in his feet, he's able to link passing plays in transition, manipulate defensive gaps with clever movements and feints, and find pockets of space in the slot.”
The Hockey Prospect Black Book prophetically said “Easton plays a style of game that is becoming increasingly rare. We feel he has just enough skill to go along with his excellent hockey IQ and elite compete level, to allow him to be the winger on a line up and and down the top three lines. It’s hard to guess on where he could potentially be selected in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. We think there is a chance he could possibly sneak into the end of the first round, but more likely will be an early second-round pick. We’d be surprised if he slides any further than the middle of the second round.”
The critique of the selection by Leafs director of scouting Wes Clark was that many ranked Cowan as a rising prospect, but still someone projected to go in the second or third round. Toronto did not have a pick after #28 overall until the fifth round and apparently was unable to trade down to get extra picks, and left more highly regarded prospects like Gavin Brindley and Andrew Cristall on the board. We will see in the coming years whether this decision was wise or not.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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