Leafs Top Prospects – #31 John Fusco

The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Matthew Knies), but the club under former GM Kyle Dubas and current GM Brad Treliving had different ideas of what kind of prospects they wanted to populate the organization with. There has been a slow weeding out process of the smaller Dubas prospects in favor of predominantly larger forwards and defenseman that fit the traits that Treliving is looking for

As we’ve done on a yearly basis, we are ranking 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:

Prospect List

#40 – Matthew Hlacar – F (Kitchener – OHL)

#39 – Rylan Fellinger – D (Flint – OHL)

#38 – Blake Smith – D (Flint – OHL, Toronto – AHL)

#37 – Braeden Kressler – C (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)

#36 – Harry Nansi – C (Owen Sound – OHL)

#35 – Landon Sim – RW (London – OHL)

#34 – John Prokop – D (Union College – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)

#33 – Seymon Kizimov – RW (Yekaterinburg Automobilist – KHL, Uchaly Gornyak – VHL)

#32 – Matthew Barbolini – F (Toronto – AHL)

#31 – John Fusco – D (Dartmouth – NCAA)

Note: The Leafs have exclusive rights on Fusco until August 15th; if he is not signed by then, he will become an unrestricted free agent and no longer Toronto property. 

The Leafs had a trio of selections in the seventh round of the 2020 Draft, and unlike most years, where they opted to select European players because they can retain their rights for longer than two years, they chose developmental projects going to US colleges.

With their selection at 189th overall, Toronto selected defenseman John Fusco. Fusco has great bloodlines, as his father Mark won the Hobey Baker in 1983, played two seasons in the NHL with Hartford, and in the 1984 Winter Olympics (Sarajevo) with Team USA. His uncle Scott played in the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics (Calgary).

Fusco played three years of high school/prep hockey at Dexter(Mass) and was bound for Harvard in 2020, but after the Ivy League announced the shutdown of winter sports earlier in 2020-21, the blueliner found a home playing for Sioux City in the USHL and for the Musketeers, He had 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists) in 20 games. 

In his first NCAA season, Fusco played in 26 of the Crimson’s 35 games as a freshman but tallied only two points (1 goal, 1 assist). With limited playing time an issue, Fusco used the NCAA’s transfer portal and shifted to another Ivy League school in Dartmouth College. In his sophomore season, the 5’11” blueliner’s offensive totals increased to 11 points (3 goals, eight assists) in 22 games. He showed some growth as a junior, scoring seven times in 32 games, and in his senior season, he posted 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in 32 games. 

Former Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley indicated after the selection that the club liked Fusco’s competitive edge and his leadership abilities.