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 Kyle Dubas and current GM Brad Treliving had different ideas of what kind of prospects they wanted to populate the organization with. There has been a slow weeding out process of the smaller Dubas prospects in favor of predominantly larger forwards and defenseman that fit the traits that Treliving is looking for
As we’ve done on a yearly basis, we are 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 40 NHL games and are 25 years old or younger:
Prospect List
#40 – Matthew Hlacar – F (Kitchener – OHL)
#39 – Rylan Fellinger – D (Flint – OHL)
#38 – Blake Smith – D (Flint – OHL, Toronto – AHL)
#37 – Braeden Kressler – C (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#36 – Harry Nansi – C (Owen Sound – OHL)
#35 – Landon Sim – RW (London – OHL)
#34 – John Prokop – D (Union College – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#33 – Seymon Kizimov – RW (Yekaterinburg Automobilist – KHL, Uchaly Gornyak – VHL)
#32 – Matthew Barbolini – F (Toronto – AHL)
#31 – John Fusco – D (Dartmouth – NCAA)
#30 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev – C (Chelyabinsk Traktor – KHL)
#29 – Will Belle – RW (US Nat’l Development Program)
#28 – Nathan Mayes – D (Spokane – WHL)
#27 – Borya Valis – RW (Prince George – WHL, Toronto – AHL)
#26 – Hudson Malinoski – C (Providence – NCAA)
#25 – Ryan Kirwan – F (Arizona State – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#24 – Joe Miller – C (Harvard – NCAA)
#23 – Matt Lahey – D (Fargo – USHL)
#22 – Chas Sharpe – D (Cincinnati – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#21 – Sam McCue – LW (Owen Sound / Flint – OHL)
#20 – Alexander Plesovskikh – LW (Voskresensk – VHL / Kryiya Sovetov & Moscow Spartak – MHL)
#19 – Ryan Tverberg – C (Toronto – AHL)
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 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 in December, 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.
Listed at 5’9 ½”, 168 lbs. when drafted in 2020, Tverberg filled out and is up to 190 lbs. Lack of strength was one of the chief areas of concern in the evaluation of him as an 18-year-old four years ago.
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. Last season, the 22-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 last season he regressed and posted just 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in 46 games.
With the influx of bigger forwards and free agents brought in by Treliving, the opportunity to become more than just an average minor league forward may have passed Tverberg by, unless he proves otherwise in the final year of his ELC.
