Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Nick Moldenhauer

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)

The Toronto Maple Leafs resorted to trading down at the 2022 Draft in Montreal to get out of salary cap issues (trading their first and Petr Mrazek to Chicago for a second-round pick that resulted in the pick of Fraser Minten) and to get extra kicks at the can in the lower rounds. On Day 2, the Leafs traded the pick they acquired from Vancouver for Travis Dermott, moving down 16 slots to gain a fifth-round pick. At #95 overall, Toronto selected winger Nick Moldenhauer.

The Mississauga, ON native is a shining example of intestinal fortitude, posting excellent offensive numbers with the USHL’s Chicago Steel (18 goals, 25 assists in 41 games) after missing the first two months of the season due to illness and another month after a severe skate cut to his neck area, and scored three points in four games for Canada at the under-18 world championships.

There was talk of Moldenhauer hooking up with a US College during the Leafs Development Camp in July 2022. He went back for another year with the Steel, which paid off, as the youngster finished third in USHL scoring with 75 points (30 goals, 45 assists). His quick start attracted interest, and Moldenhauer committed to the University of Michigan.

As a freshman, Moldenhauer posted 21 points (8 goals, 13 assists) in 41 games. The Wolverines lost Gavin Brindley, Rutger McGroarty, and Frank Nazar to the NHL going into 2024-25, and that in part factored into a middle-of-the-pack year for Michigan and an off-year for Moldenhauer, who scored just 10 points in 29 games. Last season, he got back on track, finishing with a career-high 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 40 games.

The Leafs were reportedly interested in getting the 22-year-old signed to an entry-level deal after Michigan’s season was completed, but he decided he wanted to return for his senior season, where he will serve as an assistant captain.