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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)
After years of not exploring the fertile hockey ground of Finland in the draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs have invested heavily there the last two years, selecting a pair of defensemen in 2019 and four picks in the 2020 NHL Draft.
In the sixth round (177th overall), the Leafs selected defenseman Axel Rindell. A teammate of 2019 third round pick Mikko Kokkonen, the 20-year-old blueliner is the oldest of Toronto’s 12 selections and the only overager drafted by the club in 2020.
“He's a 2000 (birth year), so he is a little bit older, a little bit of a late bloomer.… Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley said. “(He) moves the puck well, can skate well, so another guy that we valued where we took him. We think he's got upside and plays the right way.…
Rindell was eligible but went undrafted in 2018 and 2019, playing in the Finnish junior levels. The blueliner is a converted forward and gained notice last season after being called up by Jukurit in the SM-Liiga and registering 22 points (6 goals, 16 assists) in 47 games. This season, he has started strong in his sophomore season with 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games.
Axel Rindell scores his second goal of the season. #Leafs pic.twitter.com/JPOboAQDur
— Lassi Alanen (@lassialanen) November 27, 2020
HockeyProspect.com’s Black Book says that Rindell “loves to rush the puck from his own zone… and “has fine straight-away speed, above-average agility… and “good footwork…, but his puck skills are inconsistent. The defensive side is the aspect of his game that needs the most work, which could be an element that will improve with time.
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