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.
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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)
#10 – Luke Haymes – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
Because of Toronto’s penchant for trading future draft picks under both Dubas and Treliving, the club continued to be a big player in the undrafted free agent market. The Leafs were able to snag one of the most promising undrafted free agents in the spring of 2025 in center Luke Haymes.
The 23-year-old went undrafted, and after a COVID-interrupted season at Ridley College, Haymes shifted to the BCHL, where he scored 49 points (22 goals, 27 assists) in 52 games with Cowichan Valley. In 2022, the Ottawa native went the NCAA route, going to Dartmouth University and played three years with former Leafs prospect John Fusco.
After scoring 11 goals as a freshman, Haymes led Dartmouth in scoring with 36 points (18 goals, 18 assists) as a sophomore. His junior season was limited to 22 games because of a hand injury, but that did not stop him from finishing second in goals on the club with 12.
After signing a two-year entry-level deal with Toronto, Haymes played nine games with the AHL Marlies on a tryout contract, and did not seem phased by the pro game, registering six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in nine games. In his first full AHL season, Haymes started slowly, but scored over half of his goals in the final two months of the regular season, finishing with 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 66 games.
The Ottawa native was a regular for the Marlies during their run to a Calder Cup Championship, playing all 24 postseason games, finishing with 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists).
With the addition of numerous free agent forwards in the offseason, Haymes will likely start in the AHL this season, but injuries and good play on his part could see him getting elevated at some point during the year.
Injury Update From Chayka And Roster Notes
Leafs GM John Chayka, along with head coach Jim Hiller and Mats Sundin, spoke to the media at the opening of camp on Wednesday and provided an update on players injured or ill. Forward Max Domi failed his physical and is out indefinitely. The veteran had offseason back surgery, and there have been reports of the recovery not going well, but Chayka indicated that Domi will provide an update at a later time.
Rielly has a viral condition that will delay his participation in camp, but it is not expected to impact his availability for the regular season. The most disappointing news was that Marlies defenseman William Villeneuve, who was a driving force during their run to a Calder Cup earlier this year, had knee surgery for a torn ACL. He will be out long-term, but is expected to make a full recovery. Marlies’ blueliner had elbow reconstruction surgery and is out month-to-month.
The injury to Villeneuve and the tenuous health of veteran Chris Tanev may have been the motivation for the club adding veteran righty Nick Blankenberg on a PTO. Villeneuve was not waiver-exempt and may have had a chance to make the Leafs roster as an extra blueliner, but it is now quite possible that he will be out for the balance of next season.
In other news, the Leafs have sent four players: defenseman Rylan Fellinger (OHL-Flint), forward Brody Pepoy (OHL-Saginaw), forward Cooper Williams (WHL-Saskatoon), and goaltender Patriks Plūmiņš (QMJHL-Chicoutimi) to their respective junior clubs. They also released Sebastian Charvát, Matyas Man, Parker Vaughn, and Nic Whitehead from their amateur tryouts.
