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The Toronto Maple Leafs were ranked by most evaluators as having the best pipeline of young prospects in 2016, with William Nylander and Mitch Marner ready to enter the NHL and after drafting Auston Matthews first overall at the NHL Draft in Buffalo. Six years later, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman in ranking every club had Toronto’s prospects 20th in the league.
2021 second-round pick Matthew Knies was the top prospect, followed by 2018 first-rounder Rasmus Sandin, 2019 second-rounder Nick Robertson, 2020 third-rounder Topi Niemela, and 2022 second-rounder Fraser Minten.
Pronman broke down each player on skating, puck skills, hockey sense, and compete level, and puzzlingly ranked four of the Leafs prospects as below-average NHL skaters. Based on my observations since they were drafted, this is a miscalculation.
While none of the five top-ranked prospects are Pavel Bure, Knies did not have any issues keeping pace in the World Junior or Olympics, or in his freshman season at the University of Minnesota, Sandin has not displayed any lack of footspeed at the AHL or NHL level, nor has Robertson, which would make them at least average skaters.
The Leafs have two players that could break through as regulars in 2022-23 in Sandin and Robertson, with Knies a possibility at the end of the regular season, but most of their prospects (such as Roni Hirvonen, Niemela, or Minten) could be two-to-three years away from playing in North America.
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With training camps under a month from opening, NHL clubs are making their final stab at upgrades in free agency. The Carolina Hurricanes added veteran center Paul Stastny and Vegas Golden Knights signed former Leaf Phil Kessel on one-year deals for $1.5 million. Other than the addition of goaltender Dylan Ferguson earlier this month on a professional tryout, the Leafs have not any moves.
Sandin remains unsigned, but the RFA defenseman does not have many options other than an offer sheet to force the hand of GM Kyle Dubas. The signing of Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov to a three-year, $7.5 million deal may not have been good news for the Sandin camp, since the deal signed the Russian blueliner gets him to within one year away of free agency, but at a $2.5 million cap hit. The Leafs reported offer to Sandin is similar to Timothy Liljegren’s two years, $2.8 million deal, but would allow two years of salary arbitration before hitting unrestricted free agency.
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