Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Brandon Buhr

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’s Kyle Dubas and Brad Treliving, and new GM John Chayka have had different ideas of what kind of prospects they wanted to populate the organization with.

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As we’ve done on a yearly basis, we will be 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 82 NHL games and are 25 years old or younger:

Leafs Prospect List

#50 – Blake Smith – D (Toronto – AHL)
#49 – Henrik Rybinski – F (Hershey – AHL)
#48 – Sawyer Boulton – F (Reading – ECHL, Lehigh Valley – AHL)
#47 – Cole McWard – D (Bridgeport – AHL, NY Islanders – NHL)
#46 – Rylan Fellinger – D (Flint – OHL)
#45 – Sam Stevens – F (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#44 – Brody Pepoy – F (Saginaw – OHL)
#43 – Matt Lahey – D (Michigan State – NCAA)
#42 – Yaroslav Fedoseyev – D (Chelyabinsk Clemet – VHL, Chelyabinsk Traktor – KHL)
#41 – Cade Webber – D (Toronto – AHL)
#40 – Matthew Hlacar – F (Kitchener – OHL)
#39 – Will Belle – RW (US Nat’l Development Program)
#38 – Cooper Williams – C (Saskatoon – WHL)
#37 – Patriks Plumins – G (Zemgale – Latvia)
#36 – Chas Sharpe – D (Toronto – AHL)
#35 – Hayes Hundley – D (St. Thomas – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#34 – Hudson Malinoski – C (Providence – NCAA)
#33 – Joe Miller – C (Harvard – NCAA)
#32 – Juuso Ainasto – G (Jokerit Jr. – Finland)
#31 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev – C (Chelyabinsk Traktor – KHL)
#30 – Mans Gudmundsson – D (Farjestads Jr. – Sweden)
#29 – Landon Sim – RW (Toronto – AHL)
#28 – Ryan Kirwan – F (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#27 – Sam McCue – LW (Brantford/Ottawa – OHL)
#26 – Samuel Hlavaj – G (Iowa Wild – AHL)
#25 – Topi Niemela – D (Malmo – SHL)

#24 – Brandon Buhr – F (Union – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)

The Maple Leafs continue to be a club that is an energetic pursuer of undrafted CHL, European, and college free agents, mostly due to their use of draft capital to make trades over the tenures of Dubas and Treliving. One of Treliving’s final moves as GM came in mid-March, with the signing of forward Brandon Buhr. The North Vancouver native played his youth hockey in BC and three seasons with Alberni Valley in the BCHL. After going undrafted, he headed to the NCAA and played 10 games as a freshman at Clarkson, before using the transfer portal to go to Union College.

The 6’2″, 205 lb. forward scored 88 points (49 goals, 39 assists) in 106 games at Union, scoring 19 goals in his final two college seasons and averaging over a point per game in his senior campaign. According to Elite Prospects, “Buhr’s biggest advantage over the NCAA competition – his strides and crossovers are separating. He plays a fast, direct game with some inside cuts and flashy moves mixed in, all emphasizing getting to the net.”

After signing a two-year ELC, the 24-year-old burned the first year of the deal playing five games at the end of the season with the Toronto Marlies, notching two assists. Being slightly older than the normal prospect entering the AHL, Buhr should be able to see more immediate results. If he posts good numbers at Coca-Cola Coliseum, he likely will earn another deal with the Leafs and put himself on a track towards getting an NHL opportunity down the road.