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)
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a dozen picks in the 2020 NHL Draft, and all of the half dozen picks in the sixth and seventh rounds were players either bound for four years in the NCAA or a longer development track in Europe. With their third pick in the sixth round (180th overall), Toronto selected center Joe Miller. A late 2002 birthday, Miller was the youngest draft-eligible player in the 2020 Draft and a prospect of the USHL’s Chicago Steel, who was recruited and scouted by former Toronto Marlies head coach Greg Moore.
A scoring star at Blake High School in Minnesota, Miller scored 59 points (25 goals, 34 assists) in 25 games in his senior season and 18 points (8 goals, 10 assists) in 40 games with the Steel in 2021. In his second full season with Chicago, the 19-year-old averaged over a point per game, with 68 points (23 goals, 45 assists) in 62 games.
Miller shifted to Harvard in 2022 and had nearly identical production in his first two years, scoring 13 goals each season, and leading the Crimson with 27 points as a sophomore, but the young center took a step back as a junior, scoring just five goals in 28 games. The 22-year-old was named team captain going into his senior season.
The Leafs will face the dilemma of getting Miller signed to an entry-level contract if he has a good finish to his college career before losing his rights next August.
