Leafs Top 50 Prospects –  Sam Stevens 

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 Duba 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)

The Maple Leafs have needed to be more proactive in the college/CHL free agent market to fill out their organizational depth because of their depleted draft capital, and are willing to take a look at late bloomers who may not have produced at lower levels. Such is the case with Stevens, a Montreal-born dual citizen who spent his developmental years playing at Shattuck St. Mary’s and then two seasons in the USHL with three clubs.

The 6’2″, 194 lb. forward headed to Boston University for his freshman season, but the COVID pandemic and accompanying shutdown limited him to only 31 games over two years with the Terriers. His point totals in the NCAA were underwhelming, but his +/- in his junior and senior seasons were +18 and +15. In 2024, the Marlies signed Stevens to an AHL deal. In his first full AHL season, he played only 21 games as a spare part, scoring just four points (2 goals, 2 assists). Last season, he got an opportunity to play in the ECHL, scoring 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) in 47 games.

The Leafs re-signed Stevens to a one-year AHL deal last month, and with some players moving on from their ECHL and AHL rosters, he could get an increased opportunity with the reigning Calder Cup champions this fall.