Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Cooper Williams

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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)

#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)

The Maple Leafs had 10 selections at the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo, most notably Gavin McKenna, who was selected first overall. In the third round, the club selected winger Zach Olsen from the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. Two rounds later, the Leafs selected his teammate, Cooper Williams. The 18-year-old center played his youth hockey in his hometown of Calgary. He debuted in the WHL in 2024 and, in his rookie season with the Blades, he finished second in the league in rookie scoring with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists) in 68 games. Last season, he had the same point total but increased his goal total to 23.

Elite Prospects describes the 6’1″, 163 lb. forward as “a two-way player who makes his impact through safeguarding his team. He’s usually found above the puck, preparing to push rushes outside into his defenders. He supports plays down low, quickly fishes pucks out of battle.” Williams is expected to return for a third season with the Blades and is committed to the University of North Dakota, where he would join Leafs third-rounder Ethan MacKenzie, who will debut for UND this fall.

Concerns for Williams are his size and whether he can improve his strength over the next three or four years, but based on his defensive instincts, he could make the NHL as a shutdown bottom-six forward.