Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Borya Valis

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)

#23 – Borya Valis – RW (Toronto – AHL)

Because of Toronto’s penchant for trading future draft picks, the club remained a big player in the undrafted free agent market. After years of adding smaller, skilled players under Dubas, the Leafs opted for bigger players with a physical edge under Treliving, like winger Borya Valis.

The Denver, CO native chose to play in the Western Hockey League instead of going the USHL/NCAA route. At 17, Valis joined the Regina Pats in 2021 and played two and a half seasons for them before being traded to Prince George in December 2023. In his final junior season, the overager scored 80 points (34 goals, 46 assists) and attracted interest in spite of going undrafted through three drafts.

The Leafs signed the 22-year-old to a three-year, entry-level contract after the end of his season with the Cougars, and he played two games at the end of the 2024-25 campaign in the AHL. In his first full pro season, he showed some promise, scoring 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) in 60 games, and played 10 playoff games in the Marlies run towards a Calder Cup title. Valis is a long-term developmental project who has to continue to grow as a professional, but there is talent and potential there.