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)
#30 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev – C (Chelyabinsk Traktor – KHL)
#29 – Will Belle – RW (US Nat’l Development Program)
#28 – Nathan Mayes – D (Spokane – WHL)
#27 – Borya Valis – RW (Prince George – WHL, Toronto – AHL)
#26 – Hudson Malinoski – C (Providence – NCAA)
#25 – Ryan Kirwan – F (Arizona State – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#24 – Joe Miller – C (Harvard – NCAA)
#23 – Matt Lahey – D (Fargo – USHL)
#22 – Chas Sharpe – D (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#21 – Sam McCue – LW (Owen Sound / Flint – OHL)
#20 – Alexander Plesovskikh – LW (Voskresensk – VHL / Kryiya Sovetov & Moscow Spartak – MHL)
Plesovskikh was the middle of three Maple Leafs fifth-round picks (152nd overall) at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. As with most of Treliving’s additions to the organization, the Russian left winger is an above-average size (6’1”, 185 lb.) who played the two seasons leading into his draft year with Mamonty Yugry in the junior-level MHL, scoring eight goals in 33 games in 2023-24.
Last season, the 19-year-old played primarily with the Moscow Spartak Jrs. and scored 38 points (15 goals, 23 assists) in 50 MHL games and eight goals in 21 playoff games. Plesovskikh appears slated to play another season in the MHL with Moscow Spartak this season, with a chance of seeing more time in the second pro-level VHL.
Elite Prospects Draft Guide describes the winger as someone with raw talent and tools, but who will need time to develop his skating and creativity. He is “more of a straight-line pursuer than a creator, and he mostly spent of the year taking advantage of the opposition’s mistakes, pouncing on loose pucks and intercepting them to drive the slot…, but the belief is that those mistakes will be less plentiful as he plays in the professional ranks”.