Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Ryan Tverberg

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)

In the 2020 Draft, the Maple Leafs went heavily with European and American prospects, but with one of their three seventh-round picks, Toronto opted to select local product Ryan Tverberg. Tverberg was the fifth-to-last player selected in the draft at 213th overall, after scoring 51 points (26 goals, 25 assists) in 47 games for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL).

Originally committed to go to Harvard, the Crimson’s cancellation of their 2021 season due to the pandemic saw Tverberg transfer to the University of Connecticut. In 14 games for the Huskies, the speedy center scored seven points (4 goals, three assists). In his sophomore campaign, the 20-year-old led Connecticut with 14 goals, finished second on the club with 32 points, and was named a second-team ACHA All-American. Tverberg was also surprisingly in the mix for the 2022 Team Canada entry for the World Juniors, but was one of the last cuts. In his junior year, Tverberg led Connecticut with 15 goals, and after the season, he signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Leafs.

Tverberg got into seven AHL games at the end of the 2022-23 season, which gave the youngster an idea of what the league was like and prepared him for his rookie campaign. In his first full pro campaign, the 24-year-old scored 32 points (9 goals, 23 assists) in 46 games. The Leafs were looking for the Richmond Hill native to build on a successful rookie year, but he regressed and posted just 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in 46 games.

Last season, he bounced back and scored a career-high 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 63 games, and earned a promotion late in the regular season, making his NHL debut on April 13th against Dallas and playing in the season finale in Ottawa. Tverberg was a key contributor to the Marlies’ Calder Cup victory, finishing tied for fifth in playoff scoring with 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists). The Leafs re-signed him to a one-year, two-way deal, but with the plethora of free-agent additions up front, the chances of him playing in the NHL next season are slim.