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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/or are 25 years old or younger:
#40 Rodion Amirov
Note: In honor of Amirov after his passing earlier this month, 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)
#17 Artur Akhtyamov – G (Neftyanik Almetievsk – VHL)
#16 Vyacheslav Peksa - G (Ak-Bars Kazan - MHL/VHL/KHL)
#15 Michael Koster - D (Minnesota - NCAA)
#14 Ty Voit – RW (Sarnia – OHL)
#13 Fraser Minten - C (Kamloops - WHL)
#12 William Villeneuve – D (Toronto - AHL)
#11 Alex Steeves – C (Toronto – AHL/NHL)
#10 Joe Miller – C (Harvard - NCAA)
#9 Nick Moldenhauer - RW (Chicago - USHL)
#8 Nick Abruzzese – C (Toronto – AHL/NHL)
#7 Bobby McMann – F (Toronto – AHL/NHL)
#6 Roni Hirvonen – C (HIFK Helsinki – Finland SM-Liiga)
#5 Nick Robertson – LW (Toronto AHL/NHL)
#4 Pontus Holmberg – LW/C (Toronto - AHL/NHL)
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had success in selecting Swedes in the late rounds, picking Carl Gunnarsson 194th overall in 2007, Andreas Johnsson 202nd overall in 2013, and Pierre Engvall 188th overall in 2014.
In 2018, Toronto followed a recent trend of selecting overagers, swapping sixth-round picks with Buffalo to select Swedish winger Pontus Holmberg. The 5’11” forward split time between junior and the lower tier Hockeyettan in his draft year, but was elevated for two SHL games with Vaxjo.
Holmberg played all of his sophomore season with the Lakers, scoring 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 47 games, and earned a spot on Team Sweden for the 2019 World Junior in Vancouver after a good showing at the Four Nations tournament.
In his second full season, he upped his totals to 17 points (7 goals, 10 assists) in 52 games and led Vaxjo in plus/minus (+18) and his offensive output continued to grow in 2021, with 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists) in 45 games and leading his club to an SHL Championship with 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in 14 playoff games. That performance earned the winger a two-year entry-level contract with the Leafs.
In 2022, Holmberg posted a career-high 41 points (11 goals, 30 assists) in 46 games and after Vaxjo was eliminated, the 24-year-old finished out the year with four points in six games with the Toronto Marlies.
It was expected that Holmberg would see full-time duty in the AHL to start the season, but he earned an NHL call-up earlier than expected in November and contributed offensively in a bottom-six role. Holmberg had 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in 37 games playing mostly fourth-line center, but he played only one game past the trade deadline acquisitions of Ryan O’Reilly and Sam Lafferty up front and finished the season with the Marlies, where he had 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 38 games and led them in playoff scoring with six goals in seven games.
Over the summer, Holmberg signed a two-year extension with an AAV of $800,000, and it was expected that he would once again battle for the fourth-line center job, but the decision to play William Nylander up the middle may scuttle those plans for the time being.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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