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)
- #9 – Jacob Quillan – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
#8 – Miroslav Holinka – C (Edmonton – WHL, Toronto – AHL)
Holinka was the first of three Maple Leafs fifth-round picks (151st overall) at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. The 6’1”, 185 lb. forward played for Czechia at the IIHF Under-18s in 2023, scored 20 goals in 29 games for HC Ocelari Trinec juniors, and also played 16 games in the top level of the Czechia Extraliga.
After being drafted, Holinka came to North America and put up excellent numbers with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL. In 47 games, Holinka scored nearly a point-per-game (19 goals, 26 assists), and also contributed offensively for his country at the 2025 World Junior (1 goal, 3 assists in 7 games).
The youngster signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the Leafs in July, 2025 and was eligible to play in the American Hockey League, but the organization opted for him to get major responsibilities with the Oil Kings over playing sporadically with the Marlies. That decision paid off for Holinka, who finished second on the club with 80 points and led Edmonton with 37 goals. The 20-year-old made his pro debut at the end of the regular season, registering an assist.
It is expected that Holinka will get an opportunity with a strong Marlies club, coming off a Calder Cup victory last season, but as a young forward, his ice time early in the season could be limited.
