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The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall, Travis Dermott and Justin Holl, but the next step for the club under GM Kyle Dubas is to keep replenishing the prospect pool to provide the Leafs with youngsters who can step up and replace veterans who retire, depart via free agency or are traded. As we did last year, we will rank the club’s top prospects over the next few 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: #40 – J.D. Greenway – D (Maine – NCAA) #39 – Eemeli Rasanen – D (HPK – Finland SM-Liiga) #38 – Jeremy McKenna – RW (Moncton – QMJHL) #37 – Ryan O’Connell – D (Ohio State – NCAA) #36 – Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA) #35 - Semyon Kizimov – RW (Lada Togliatti – VHL / Torpedo – KHL) #34 - Kalle Loponen – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga) #33 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Cherepovets Severstal – KHL) #32 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA) #31 - Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Waterloo – USHL) #30 - William Villeneuve – D (Saint John – QMJHL) #29 - Joe Miller – C (Chicago – USHL) #28 - Axel Rindell – D (Jukurit – Finland SM-Liiga) #27 - Kristians Rubins - D (Toronto - AHL / Frederikshavn - Denmark) #26 - Justin Brazeau - RW (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL) #25 – Dmitry Ovchinnikov – F (Sibir Novosibirsk – MHL/KHL) #24 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL) #23 – Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Ottawa – OHL / Wichita ECHL) #22 – Roni Hirvonen – C (Assat Pori – Finland SM-Liiga) #21 – Teemu Kivihalme - D (Toronto - AHL)
#20 – Pontus Holmberg – LW (Vaxjo HC – SHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had success in selecting Swedes in the late rounds, picking former Leafs Carl Gunnarsson 194th overall in 2007, Andreas Johnsson 202nd overall in 2013, and winger Pierre Engvall 188th overall in 2014.
Another in a long line of overagers selected in recent years, Toronto traded a 2019 sixth round pick to Buffalo to obtain a sixth round at the 2018 Draft and selected Pontus Holmberg. The 5’11… forward split time between junior and the lower tier Hockeyettan in his draft year, but was elevated for two SHL games with Vaxjo.
#Leafs Pontus Holmberg (#29) with a nice deflection that leads to a goal for Vaxjo #SHL pic.twitter.com/rSldWV8MtY
— Leafs Prospect Update (@Leafs_Watch) December 22, 2020
Holmberg played all of his sophomore season with the Lakers, scoring 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 47 games and earned a spot on Team Sweden for the 2019 World Junior in Vancouver after a good showing at the Four Nations tournament.
In his second full season, he upped his totals to 17 points (7 goals, 10 assists) in 52 games and led Vaxjo in plus/minus (+18), and this year the 21-year-old has 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) in 20 SHL games. Holmberg has adequate speed, but makes up for that with offensive skills and a high hockey IQ. He will likely remain in Sweden for the next few years to gain maturity and experience while the Leafs continue to evaluate him and maintain his rights.
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After a level of uncertainty clouded the chances of the Canadian Division playing their games in Canada, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly indicated on Thursday that a path to have the seven Canadian teams play in their home building has cleared.
"On the basis of our discussions in the past week, as well as our exchange of correspondence over the last 24 hours, we believe we are aligned and in agreement on the conditions on which each of our Canadian franchises can begin play in their own buildings for the start of the 2020-21 NHL season." Daly said to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun .
The NHL and NHLPA are expected to submit to additional testing and will have some of their players participating in provincial public service announcements related to awareness and prevention of contracting COVID-19.
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