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)
It often occurs that when clubs are watching over their own prospects, they see another player who intrigues them. The Leafs were keeping a watchful eye on top prospect Easton Cowan with the OHL London Knights to track his progress, and saw someone who at the absolute least could be a good add for their organizational depth.
During their run to the Memorial Cup, the Leafs signed Knights forward Landon Sim to a one-year AHL contract. The son of former NHLer Jon Sim was selected 184th overall by St. Louis in 2022 while Leafs head coach Craig Berube was with the Blues. After two years and not being signed, the feisty Sim returned to London as an overager and had a career-best 30 goals, averaged nearly a point per game, and compiled 105 penalty minutes.
His production was even better in the OHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup, where he scored 12 goals in 17 games on the Knights’ championship run. While not being a prototypical big body that Leafs GM Brad Treliving has added in recent months, the 5’11”, 175 lb. Sim makes up for it with sandpaper and a willingness to drop the gloves.
It is likely that the 21-year-old was brought in to help Cowan transition to the AHL from junior, but this is a signing that could pay dividends for the Marlies and give Sim an opportunity to earn an NHL contract down the line.
Landon Sim is one of those prospects that seems to have no realistic path to the NHL. I am always reluctant to say such a thing about a player at this stage of his career but if the pro scouts saw anything more than organizational depth in him …he would be signed to an NHL contract instead of an AHL contract.
A comparable player in age and Junior career stats is Borya Valis, who is also a case in point. He was signed to an NHL ELC this past March when his overage Junior season finished. The pro scouts clearly saw more in him than in Sims but having said all of this there have been players who have beaten the odds. Not a lot of them but enough to force us to always add that caveat before dismissing a players chances of making it to the bigs.
I think Landon Sim is a great add for the Marlies. He is a character guy who leads by example on the ice. There is no quit to Sim. I can recall 3 seasons ago, on what was the first of three OHL final appearances when Sim came back from injury. He simply solidified that team with determination and grit. It molded young players like Cowan and Barkey with the Knights. They barely lost a game after Sim returned.
I think Sim is well worth a try with the Marlies to see what he can bring to the team.
I think that Sim is a worker bee and plays that type of sandpapery style that the Leafs hierarchy is looking for. Maybe he was given an AHL deal to make Cowan feel more comfortable with the Marlies, but I also think they are giving him an opportunity to earn a spot.