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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 - Jeremy McKenna – RW (Wichita – ECHL, Toronto – AHL) #39 – Ryan Tverberg – C (Connecticut – NCAA) #38 – Ryan O’Connell – D (Ohio State – NCAA)
#37 - Semyon Kizimov – RW (Lada Togliatti – VHL / Torpedo – KHL)
The Leafs have struck gold in the late rounds of the draft, with Andreas Johnsson in 2013 and Pierre Engvall in 2014, but it took both wingers four to five years to develop and gain experience. Toronto is hoping for similar good fortune with Russian product Semyon Kizimov. The 6’0…, 176 lb. winger was selected 211th overall in the 2018 Draft in Chicago.
Beautiful primary assist from #Leafs prospect Semyon Kizimov today, giving him 7 points in 10 #VHL games pic.twitter.com/aPBdUSSsKw
— Josh Simpson (@joshsimpson77) November 20, 2020
Kizimov scored a pair of goals for Russia in the Under-18’s in 2018, but put forth a couple unspectacular years in the second-level VHL. Last season, the 21-year-old opened the season with four goals in 10 games for Lada Togliatti and earned a promotion to the KHL, playing with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod along with Leafs prospect Semyon Der-Argushintsev, but that stint lasted only four games before the winger was returned for the rest of the season and posted 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in 35 games.
In May, Kizimov was traded to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg and signed a one year deal, with the hope that he will get more playing time in the KHL than he did with Torpedo.
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