Leafs Top 50 Prospects –  Brody Pepoy

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. 

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)

The Leafs 2026 Draft was acclaimed by many experts and evaluators as an A or A+, but not solely because of the selection of Gavin McKenna with the top overall pick. The club made 10 selections, and their last pick in Buffalo was Saginaw Spirit winger Brody Pepoy. The 18-year-old Michigan native was picked in the sixth round (169th overall) out of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. After playing his youth hockey in his home state, the 18-year-old played for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16U AAA squad and scored 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists) in 55 games.

In his first OHL season, Pepoy had 29 points (16 goals, 13 assists) in 67 games. Elite Prospects says that the 6’2″, 181 lb. forward “never stops working. If he’s not first on a puck, he makes sure the opponent feels it. He sprints hard into every play. With possession, he’s fearless and inventive, combining with dynamic habits: Feet (are) always moving, (and) attacking at angles.

Pepoy will return to Saginaw this fall, but EP indicates that he is committed to be heading to the NCAA in 2027-28 to play for Lindenwood University in Missouri.