Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Alexander Bilecki

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.

This story is powered by Betalytics — the intelligent platform for sports betting — and by Rude Hockey apparel.

This afternoon's recommended play. Thirty minutes to game time.

Sign up at https://t.co/rvhCW3V9Jd to start your 5-day free trial. Use Promo Code: HHS to receive a 25% discount on the best predictive sports data available. https://t.co/hIt50qDmBu
— HockeyHotStove (@HockeyHStove) July 2, 2026

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)

The Leafs had what many draft evaluators thought was a very successful class at the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo, with nine selections after picking Gavin McKenna first overall. Toronto enjoyed the fringe benefit of getting a conditional draft pick in the deal for Scott Laughton, with the Kings giving up the Buffalo Sabres second-round pick after qualifying for the postseason. With the 60th overall pick, the Leafs selected defenseman Alexander Bilecki.

The 18-year-old completed his second OHL season with the Kitchener Rangers, posting 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists) in 66 games. Bilecki was limited to playing a depth role with older defensemen ahead of him on the Rangers, but compiled 11 points in 18 playoff games on Kitchener’s way to the Memorial Cup.

Known as an excellent skater with high-end skill, the 6’1″, 180 lb. blueliner will benefit from playing higher in the lineup and possibly earning power-play time with the Rangers this season. According to Elite Prospects, Bilecki “attacks defenses, beating the first forechecker with a fake and an explosive change of direction, before piercing right through neutral zone coverages. He creates high-danger scoring chances regularly off the rush….with his explosive skating, a large playmaking arsenal, and deceptive acts, he pushes the play forward, orchestrating the power play while also helping Kitchener’s ever-dangerous formation at 5-on-5.”

”