Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Hudson Malinoski

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)
• #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)

The Leafs had only three selections at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, and the organization was left scrambling after the dismissal of Dubas in May 2023 and the hiring of Treliving. Treliving was unable to participate in the drafting process and could not even go onto the draft floor until after Calgary made its first-round selection, and the draft was left in the hands of Wes Clark.

After the surprising selection of Easton Cowan 28th overall, the Leafs next choice was 125 picks later in the fifth round. Toronto selected center Hudson Malinoski. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native was a late bloomer who scored 69 points for the AJHL Champion Brooks Bandits season after being passed over in 2022 in his first year of draft eligibility.

Malinoski finished tied for second in goals (9) in his freshman season at Providence College, and stepped up his offensive production in his second year under Friars head coach Nate Leaman, tying for the club lead in goals (11) and second in scoring with 23 points, but last season, while his goal total stayed static at 11, he managed only four assists in 36 games. The 22-year-old is entering his senior season and he will have to show significant improvement to entice the Leafs to sign him to an entry-level contract next year.