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, Moscow Dynamo – KHL)
Der-Argushintsev is a player thought to be off the Leafs radar, but could be back on it after reports emanating from Russia that he’d like to return to the organization after spending the last three seasons in the KHL. The 25-year-old was the youngest player selected by Toronto in the 2018 Draft, the first draft under the auspices of Kyle Dubas. The smallish, skilled center was a teammate of former Leaf Nick Robertson and topped out at 75 points (12 goals, 63 assists) in his final OHL season with the Peterborough Petes in 2019-20.
The Moscow native played 17 games with Torpedo of the KHL in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, as well as six games with the Toronto Marlies. In two full seasons with the Marlies, SDA compiled 72 points (15 goals, 57 assists) in 101 games and made his NHL debut at the end of the 2022-23 season, but that summer, he returned home to play with Chelyabinsk Traktor.
Each of his three KHL seasons, the 5’11”, 168 lb. center’s point totals were adequate. Last season, when he was dealt home to play for Dynamo in the middle of the year, he posted 37 points (6 goals, 31 assists) in 59 games. After the season, SDA was dealt to Vladivostok, after which reports from his agent in Russia indicated that he intends to return to North America and that he has been in contact with the Leafs.
At worst, SDA would be a solid addition for the AHL Marlies up the middle, but after three full years of playing professionally in the KHL, he could be a player capable of being a part-time NHLer.
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