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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 focus of prospect development under former GM Kyle Dubas and the last few seasons under Director of Amateur Scouting Wes Clark seemed to be on skill players, while GM Brad Treliving has begun to transition with a focus on young players with size.
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.
Youngsters like Bobby McMann, Joseph Woll, Nick Robertson, Pontus Holmberg, and top rated Matthew Knies have graduated, but here is a list of players eligible for the list who have not played more than 40 NHL games and are 25 years old or younger:
The Leafs continue to scour the US College, European and CHL ranks for potential hidden gems that can be developed into useful players. After having just three picks in the 2023 Draft, Toronto looked to the free agent route to add more to their prospect pool and signed forward Robert Mastrosimone to an AHL contract.
The 23-year-old was a second-round pick of Detroit in GM Steve Yzerman’s first year as Red Wings GM out of the USHL’s Chicago Steel. The Long Island native had two unspectacular years at Boston University before a decent junior year but then used the NCAA transfer portal to go to Arizona State University.
Mastrosimone posted 42 points as a senior with the Sun Devils, but the Wings were not impressed enough with his college performance to sign him to an entry-level contract.
Robert Mastrosimone continues to impress me this season.
This goal earned Toronto a point in the last game of the road trip and boy did he enjoy finding the net after being unfairly called for a penalty. pic.twitter.com/oZu8WXg2fD
Leafs Asst. GM Ryan Hardy was the general manager in Chicago when Mastrosimone scored 31 goals in the USHL and gave the 5’10”, 170 lb. winger. In his first season with the Marlies, he posted 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) in 45 games, but missed six weeks with an upper-body injury.
The Marlies re-signed Mastrosimone to a one-year AHL deal late last month, so they see some potential for development.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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