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)
#22 – Vinny Borgesi – D (Northeastern – 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 defenseman Vinny Borgesi. The Philadelphia native was a departure for the Leafs former GM, as he is slight of stature at 5’8″, 174 lb. Borgesi played his youth hockey in Pennsylvania before playing two years in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm.
After scoring 38 points (5 goals, 33 assists) in his final USHL season, Borgesi shifted to the NCAA, playing four seasons at Northeastern University. His most productive year was as a sophomore, when he scored 28 points (5 goals, 23 assists) in 34 games. As a senior, he served as the Huskies’ team captain, and after their season was concluded, he signed a two-year ELC with the Leafs.
Elite Prospects says Borgesi “already thinks the game at a professional level. With the puck on his stick, he’s skilled, cunning, and decisive, never shy to push the limits of his skill set to make things happen. Well-timed activations keep him constantly involved in the play, and the use of space paired with a series of deceptive manoeuvres like look-offs or fakes cuts through opponents and opens up passing lanes.”
The 22-year-old played seven games at the end of the season for the AHL Marlies and is expected to play on the right side along with William Villeneuve and Ben Danford at Coca-Cola Coliseum this fall.
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