Leafs Top 50 Prospects – Samuel Hlavaj

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.

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)

The Leafs goaltending pipeline saw a near-complete changeover in the months after Chayka took over as GM. Joseph Woll was dealt to Philadelphia, Dennis Hildeby was sent to Tampa Bay in the Nick Paul deal, and prospect Vyacheslav Peksa chose to return to Russia after he was not given a qualifying offer. The club drafted a pair of netminders, Juuso Ainasto and Patriks Plumins, and brought over youngster Timofei Obvintsev from Russia on an AHL deal, but they needed a goalie capable of backing up Artur Akhtyamov and taking over as a starter in the AHL when Anthony Stolarz inevitably goes on injured reserve.

The club in early July signed Slovakian goalie Samuel Hlavaj to a one-year deal. The 6’4″, 240 lb. netminder played youth hockey in his home country before coming to North America and playing one year in the USHL and two years with Sherbrooke in the QMJHL. The 25-year-old played for Slovakia in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 World Junior Championships, and after going undrafted, returned home to play professionally for two seasons and in the Czech league for one season before signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Minnesota Wild.

With the Wild’s goaltending pipeline stockpiled with Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson in the NHL, Hlavaj split time with future starter Jesper Wallstadt in 2024-25, and with former NHLer Cal Petersen last season in AHL Iowa, playing well in his first season (2.85 GAA, .904 save % in 36 games), but struggling in his second campaign. Internationally, he was the primary starter for Slovakia at both the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, and the 2026 World Championships in Switzerland.

In spite of having no NHL experience, facing professionals internationally and playing two years in the AHL should prepare Hlavaj for the role of a tandem goalie with the Marlies and possibly to step in with the Leafs if needed.