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 Kyle Dubas and current GM Brad Treliving had different ideas of what kind of prospects they wanted to populate the organization with. There has been a slow weeding out process of the smaller Dubas prospects in favor of predominantly larger forwards and defenseman that fit the traits that Treliving is looking for
As we’ve done on a yearly basis, we are 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 40 NHL games and are 25 years old or younger:
Prospect List
#40 – Matthew Hlacar – F (Kitchener – OHL)
#39 – Rylan Fellinger – D (Flint – OHL)
#38 – Blake Smith – D (Flint – OHL, Toronto – AHL)
#37 – Braeden Kressler – C (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#36 – Harry Nansi – C (Owen Sound – OHL)
#35 – Landon Sim – RW (London – OHL)
#34 – John Prokop – D (Union College – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#33 – Seymon Kizimov – RW (Yekaterinburg Automobilist – KHL, Uchaly Gornyak – VHL)
#32 – Matthew Barbolini – F (Toronto – AHL)
#31 – John Fusco – D (Dartmouth – NCAA)
#30 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev – C (Chelyabinsk Traktor – KHL)
#29 – Will Belle – RW (US Nat’l Development Program)
#28 – Nathan Mayes – D (Spokane – WHL)
#27 – Borya Valis – RW (Prince George – WHL, Toronto – AHL)
#26 – Hudson Malinoski – C (Providence – NCAA)
#25 – Ryan Kirwan – F (Arizona State – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#24 – Joe Miller – C (Harvard – NCAA)
#23 – Matt Lahey – D (Fargo – USHL)
#22 – Chas Sharpe – D (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#21 – Sam McCue – LW (Owen Sound / Flint – OHL)
#20 – Alexander Plesovskikh – LW (Voskresensk – VHL / Kryiya Sovetov & Moscow Spartak – MHL)
#19 – Ryan Tverberg – C (Toronto – AHL)
#18 Roni Hirvonen – C (Toronto – AHL)
#17 Timofei Obvintsev – Goalie (Krasnaya Armiya Moskva – MHL)
The Maple Leafs have adopted a shotgun approach with their goaltending prospects, with netminders playing either in Europe or the lower professional levels in North America under the age of 25. Joseph Woll became Toronto’s tandem starter last season, but the club is hoping that someone like Dennis Hildeby, or Russian goalies Artur Ahktyamov or Vyacheslav Peksa will step up in the next few years.
The Leafs added another long-range prospect goaltending prospect at the NHL Draft in Las Vegas, selecting Timofei Obvintsev in the fifth round. The 20-year-old has been in the CSKA Moscow junior system since 2020 and had a 2.96 GAA in 16 starts in his draft year. Last season, he played only 11 games in the MHL, posting a 2.78 GAA and .908 save percentage.
The Ekaterinburg native is the prototypical physical frame (6’3”, 179 lb.) that NHL clubs are looking for, but his style is more of a hybrid approach, playing in the butterfly when it is called for, but also mixing it up and not dropping down in some instances. A super-gifted athlete, Obvintsev is raw and needs to play and mature, but has remarkable dexterity, moves extremely well laterally, and is said to have the blocker of any netminder selected in the draft.
With Russia still banned by the IIHF, Obvintsev will not have a chance to play internationally, but should get playing time in the second-level pro VHL this season.
