Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Ben Danford

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)
#17 – Timofei Obvintsev – G (Gornyak-UGMK – VHL)
#16 – Ethan MacKenzie – D (Edmonton – WHL)
#15 – Harry Nansi – C (Owen Sound – OHL)
#14 – Nick Moldenhauer – C (Michigan – NCAA)
#13 – Tyler Hopkins – C (Kingston/Guelph – OHL)
#12 – Noah Chadwick – D (Toronto – AHL)
#11 – Alexander Bilecki – D (Kitchener – OHL)
#10 – Luke Haymes – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
#9 – Jacob Quillan – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
#8 – Miroslav Holinka – C (Edmonton – WHL, Toronto – AHL)
#7 – William Villeneuve – D (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
#6 – Victor Johansson – D (Leksands Jr., Oskarshamn IK – Sweden)
#5 – Tinus-Luc Koblar – C (Leksands IF Jr. – Sweden)
#4 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)

#3 – Ben Danford – D (Oshawa/Brantford – OHL, Toronto – AHL)

The Toronto Maple Leafs followed the same script at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas as they did the previous year in Nashville, selecting a late-rising OHL product at the bottom of the first round in Oshawa Generals defenseman Ben Danford. That formula seems to have paid off once again.

The Madoc, ON native, similar to 2023 first-rounder Easton Cowan, is a lifelong Leaf fan who improved his stock in the second half and during a deep OHL playoff run (losing to Cowan’s London Knights in the OHL Final). Danford scored 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) in 21 playoff games after scoring one goal in 64 regular-season games.

After being drafted, he was named captain of the Generals and put up 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists) in 61 games, as Oshawa once again lost to Cowan’s Knights in the OHL Final. Known primarily as a physical, right-handed shutdown blueliner, Danford is someone who plays a smart, consistent, competitive, and simple game and has good habits.

Last season, he made Team Canada’s World Junior squad, and completed his junior career, shifting from Oshawa to the Brantford Bulldogs, and between the two clubs posted 20 points (3 goals, 17 assists) in 45 games.The 20-year-old immediately joined the AHL Toronto Marlies after the Bulldogs were eliminated from the OHL Playoffs, and Danford fit in seamlessly and was not intimidated by the high-pressure situation of the Calder Cup Playoffs. In 16 games, he had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) and +1 on the road to an AHL title.

Already demoted by the Leafs, the young blueliner is thought to be someone who needs some additional reps and significant playing time with the Marlies, but could be one of the first names called upon if Toronto has some injuries on the blueline.