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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)
The Maple Leafs are taking a shotgun approach to their netminder prospects, with five goalies in Europe or the lower professional levels in North America under the age of 25, hoping that one will become the first internal candidate to be a full-time starter since James Reimer over a decade ago.
Marlies goalie Joseph Woll (2016) appears to be in line to get a sizable chunk of games with the Leafs next season, Russian prospects Artur Akhtyamov (2020) and Vyacheslav Peksa (2021), and big Swede Dennis Hildeby (2022) have all been signed to entry-level contracts, but last season the Leafs chose to add another netminder via the undrafted free agent route, signing NCAA product Dryden Mckay to an AHL contract.
The Downer Grove, IL native came out of the USHL and went undrafted, playing four seasons with Minnesota State University-Mankato. In his senior season, the 24-year-old posted a 38-5-0 record, 1.31 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage in 43 games and reached the NCAA Championship game before losing to Denver. McKay was named the CCHA Player of the Year, CCHA Goaltender of the Year, First Team All-CCHA, established NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey records for single-season wins (38) and career shutouts (26), and was awarded the 2022 Hobey Baker Award.
McKay accepted a six-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping violation in April 2022, but was available for training camp last October.
In his first pro season, McKay split time with Luke Cavallin with Newfoundland, playing 33 games and going 19-10-1, with a 3.06 GAA, and .900 save percentage, made two AHL starts for the Marlies, and made the majority of the starts for the Growlers in the playoffs.
With Erik Kallgren signing with New Jersey, it is expected that Hildeby will be one of the goalies getting a lot of work with the Marlies next season, but with Akhtyamov/Peksa staying in Russia another season, McKay may get an opportunity to move up to the AHL.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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