Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Roni Hirvonen

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)
#21 – Ryan Tverberg – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
#20 – Zac Olsen – F (Saskatoon – WHL)
#19 – Alexander Plesovskikh – LW (MHK Spartak Moskva – MHL, Moscow Spartak – KHL)

#18 – Roni Hirvonen – C (Karpat – SM-Liiga)

Hirvonen’s place in the prospect rankings was affected by his departure from North America to play in Finland. It was doubtful that he would ever play with the Leafs organization under Treliving, but Toronto still retains his rights because they made a qualifying offer last summer when he became a restricted free agent. In 2020, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas traded down, moving his second-round pick (44th overall) to Ottawa for a late second and to recoup a third-round pick (Topi Niemela) that he traded in the Nazem Kadri deal. That second-round pick turned out to be Sens blueliner Tyler Kleven, who has developed into a good shutdown defenseman.

At #59, Toronto selected Hirvonen, who played 52 games in the SM-Liiga for Assat Pori before the draft and was known for possessing skill and hockey IQ, but the question was whether he will be able to overcome his small stature (5’9”, 164 lbs) and round out the other aspects of his game to be a successful pro player eventually.

“(Hirvonen is) a really smart cerebral player, who can improve his outright speed, but he has good edges. Has good offensive instincts and a player who plays on the Finnish national team. We’ve seen a lot with them.… Former Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley said. “He’s got good offensive upside and he’s a competitive kid. I know he’s not a bigger kid, but he’s certainly competitive and hard on pucks.”

The center was selected for Team Finland’s squad for the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships in Edmonton and scored six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in seven games, as well as setting a career-high of 21 points with Assat in the SM-Liiga. After switching to HIFK Helsinki in the Finnish league in 2021-22, he increased his point total to 26 (9 goals, 17 assists) in 46 games and averaged over a point per game in the Liiga playoffs.

In his second WJC, he was named Finland’s team captain and had seven points in seven games, leading his country to the Gold Medal game vs. Canada. Following the season, Hirvonen signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Leafs, with the understanding that he would play another season for HIFK Helsinki before heading to North America and he scored 15 goals in 57 games for HIFK.

The young Finn was expected to slot in with the AHL Marlies, but he suffered the loss of his father, a concussion during the Leafs Development Camp, and a serious eye injury in October that kept him out for three months. After returning, Hirvonen struggled to get on track and finished the season with 13 points (7 goals, 6 assists) in 37 games, but began to show some improvement late in the season, with five points in the last eight games.

In 2024-25, the 24-year-old showed some improvement, increasing his point total to 21 (10 goals, 11 assists) in 59 games, but with the completion of his ELC and the organization shifting to bigger players, he returned home to play this season with Karpat. The Leafs retained his rights by extending a qualifying offer, and Hirvonen finished second in club scoring with 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) in 57 games. While it is unlikely he will come back to North America to play for Toronto, the Leafs could still use him as an asset in a future trade or perhaps convince him to return if they think he can play in the NHL.