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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
#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
The Maple Leafs chose to go heavy on European prospects in the 2020 NHL Draft, likely because they would have more time to develop in their home countries or in the NCAA while Toronto retained their rights. The club selected four players from Finland (including Roni Hirvonen and Topi Niemela. With the first pick in the sixth round, Toronto selected forward Veeti Miettinen.
Miettinen was a scoring star at the junior level and played internationally. The 20-year-old had 69 goals in 100 games the last two seasons in the under-20 level of the Finnish SM-liiga and set the all-time record of 42 goals in 2020. The belief was that he purposely played at a lower level to retain his eligibility to play college hockey in the US.
Ranked #29 in the Hockey News Top 100 NCAA players in 2020, Miettinen excelled as a freshman, leading St. Cloud State in scoring with 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 31 games and named NCHC rookie of the year and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, but the 5’9”, 159 lb. winger took a step backward in his sophomore campaign, scoring 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) in 37 games. As a junior, Miettinen posted a career-best 36 points (12 goals, 24 assists).
Elite Prospects says of Miettinen: “He's a real power play threat from the half-wall. Miettinen can find players in the seam and in the slot. He has good edges, and he flashes very good speed. He can change his speed and surprise defenders with quick bursts, with good four-step acceleration.”
The HockeyProspect.com Black Book loves Miettinen’s skill set and believes that he has the potential to be a top-six NHL winger, while Elite Prospects believes he has quality release is a real power-play threat from the half-wall, but it is likely that he will remain in college the full four years at St. Cloud State to give the Leafs more time to evaluate his future prospects.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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