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)
- #13 – Tyler Hopkins – C (Kingston/Guelph – OHL)
- #12 – Noah Chadwick – D (Toronto – AHL)
- #11 – Alexander Bilecki – D (Kitchener – OHL)
- #10 – Luke Haymes – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
- #9 – Jacob Quillan – C (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
- #8 – Miroslav Holinka – C (Edmonton – WHL, Toronto – AHL)
- #7 – William Villeneuve – D (Toronto – AHL, Toronto – NHL)
#6 – Victor Johansson – D (Leksands Jr., Oskarshamn IK – Sweden)
Johansson was a surprising pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft. The Swedish blueliner has pro hockey bloodlines (his older brothers were drafted by the Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings, and his cousin is San Jose forward Alexander Wennberg), but he was literally absent from all of the pre-draft scouting guides and was not on the NHL Central Scouting rankings.
Drafted at a gangly 6’1”, 143 lbs., Johansson played in Djurgardens junior system for one year before shifting to Leksands in 2022. In two seasons at various levels, the blueliner never achieved double figures in offensive totals. Known mostly for his excellent skating ability and lugging the puck, former Leafs director of amateur scouting Wes Clark recognized his hockey IQ and selected him at the Draft in Las Vegas.
Part of Johansson’s metamorphosis has been his physical building up. Now 165 lbs, he posted 39 points (7 goals, 32 assists) in 47 games with the Leksands Jr. club and 113 penalty minutes last season. If that was thought to be an aberration, the defenseman’s impressive performance at this summer’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Minnesota put him on the radar for making Sweden’s 2026 squad, and last December, he played five games for his country at the WJC.
FloHockey’s Chris Peters said of Johansson after the WJSS that “his offensive game has really come along, with solid hands and an ability to get pucks through. He has a deft touch on the puck, making good passes and escaping pressure. He also had several big hits, showing his willingness and eagerness to use his improved strength to make opposing forwards uncomfortable. He said he is motivated to not just be a good defenseman, but to be the best.”
After playing 10 games in the SHL last season with Leksands, the 20-year-old has moved to play with Brynas IF this season. Based on the changing philosophy of the Leafs, especially when it comes to skating on the back end, Johansson fits the skill set that Toronto is looking for.
