Be sure to like HockeyBuzz on facebook! For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
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) #36 - Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Waterloo – USHL) #35 - Kalle Loponen – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga) #34 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Cherepovets Severstal/Moscow Spartak – KHL) #33 - Kirill Semyonov – C (Avangard Omsk – KHL) #32 - William Villeneuve – D (Saint John – QMJHL) #31 - Ty Voit – LW (Sarnia – OHL) #30 – Joe Miller – C(Chicago – USHL #29 - Brennan Menell – D (Minsk Dynamo – KHL) #28 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA) #27 - Axel Rindell – D (Jukurit – Finland SM-Liiga) #26 - Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Toronto - AHL) #25 - Alex Steeves – C (Notre Dame – NCAA) #24 - Teemu Kivihalme - D (Toronto - AHL) #23 - Kristians Rubins - D (Toronto - AHL / Frederikshavn - Denmark) #22 - Ian Scott – G (Toronto - AHL) #21 – Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA) #20 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL) #19 – Filip Kral - D (Kometa Brno – Czech, Toronto - AHL) #18 - Joseph Duszak - D (Toronto - AHL) #17 – Mac Hollowell - D (Toronto – AHL / TuTo Turku – Finland Mestis) #16 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev - C (Torpedo – KHL, Toronto - AHL) #15 – Pavel Gogolev – LW (Vasby IK – Swe-1, Toronto – AHL) #14 - Pontus Holmberg – LW (Vaxjo HC – SHL) #13 – Mikko Kokkonen – D (Jukurit Mikkeli – Finland SM-Liiga, Toronto - AHL) #12 – Joseph Woll – G (Toronto – AHL) #11 - Dmitry Ovchinnikov – F (Sibir Novosibirsk – MHL/KHL) #10 - Mikhail Abramov – C (Victoriaville – QMJHL) #9 – Adam Brooks – C (Toronto – AHL/NHL) (claimed by Montreal) #8 - Roni Hirvonen – C (Assat Pori – Finland SM-Liiga)
#7 - Timothy Liljegren – D (Toronto – AHL/NHL)
One of the top rated defensive prospects in the 2017 draft class, Timothy Liljegren saw his stock plummet following a bout of mononucleosis that kept him from participating in the World Junior and shifting between four teams at various levels of the Swedish Hockey League. At the NHL Draft in Chicago, the Toronto Maple Leafs selected the speedy Swede 17th overall.
Gifted with good skating ability and an aptitude for pushing the puck up the ice, Liljegren has the tools necessary to succeed in the new NHL, but to this point has only made incremental improvements at the American Hockey League level.
Toronto had the option of keeping the youngster in the SHL after signing him to an entry-level contract in 2017, but the club decided to provide a more stable environment and begin his transition to the North American game in the American Hockey League with the Marlies.
The right-handed Liljegren had 17 points (1 goal, 16 assists) as a rookie, but was limited to 44 games during the regular season due to injuries and being loaned to Team Sweden for the 2018 World Junior in Buffalo.
In the Marlies run to the Calder Cup, Sheldon Keefe managed the youngster’s ice time carefully, keeping him mostly on the bottom pairing. Liljegren had four assists in 20 playoff games, but was poised and did not make the bad decisions that inexperienced players tend to make in pressure situations.
In his second professional campaign, Liljegren missed over two months and the 2019 World Junior with a high ankle sprain, but put up similar offensive numbers (3 goals, 12 assists in 43 games), and played more difficult minutes, matching up often against the opposition’s top lines during the regular season and the playoffs.
In 2019-20, the 22-year-old doubled his point total (5 goals, 25 assists in 40 AHL games) and earned a promotion to the parent club, playing 11 NHL games while both Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin were out injured. Last season, the additions of TJ Brodie and Zach Bogosian along with an abbreviated AHL schedule did not allow a great deal of opportunity for development, as Liljegren played just two NHL games and 21 games with the Marlies, but with the departure of Bogosian back to Tampa, the Leafs appear committed to give the young Swede a chance to play.
With the Leafs early season struggles on defense, Keefe last week chose to shake up his pairings and insert Liljegren in place of Justin Holl and he acquitted himself well in Toronto’s 5-4 victory over Detroit on Saturday.
*******
Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******