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Sincere condolences go out to the Amirov family on the tragic loss of their son at such a young age.
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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 – LW (Ufa Salavat – KHL, Did Not Play)
#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)
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 2021 Draft, Toronto looked to the free agent route to add more to their prospect pool and signed forward Braeden Kressler to a three-year entry-level contract.
The Kitchener, ON native played for Canada in the 2019 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, and debuted for the Flint Firebirds as a 16-year-old, with 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists) in 46 games. After the OHL shut down for the 2020-21 season, Kressler went undrafted in 2021 but impressed Leafs management at their development camp last year enough to earn an ELC.
The 5’9”, 175 lb. center missed significant time due a knee injury, but after scoring 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 28 regular season games, he moved up to the first line for the Firebirds in the OHL playoffs and scored six goals in 17 postseason games.
Last season, Kressler broke out with the Firebirds, scoring 25 goals in 47 games and averaging more than a point per game, but was injured late in the regular season and was limited to one playoff game.
The Hockey Prospect Black Book says that Kressler “is elusive with and without the puck, shows great acceleration and explosiveness as a skater, flashes a great first step, the ability to fight in battles as he plays bigger than his size and has no fear”.
It is expected that Kressler will get a good chance at breaking into the pros with the AHL Marlies, but could start off in the ECHL if playing time is a factor.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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