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The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall, and Justin Holl), but the club under GM Kyle Dubas has 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 upcoming 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 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Yugra - VHL) #39 - Kalle Loponen – D (Koo Koo Kouvola/JyP HT – Finland SM-Liiga) #38 - Jeremy McKenna – RW (Wichita – ECHL, Toronto – AHL) #37 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA) #36 - Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Newfoundland – ECHL, Toronto – AHL) #35 - Ryan Chyzowski - LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL) #34 - Braeden Kressler - C (Flint - OHL) #33 - Nikita Grebyonkin - RW (Stalnye Lisy - MHL, Magnitogorsk - KHL) #32 - Vyacheslav Peksa - G (Ibris Kazan - MHL) #31 - Dryden McKay - G (Minnesota Duluth - NCAA) #30 - Bobby McMann - C (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL) #29 - Pavel Gogolev – LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto – AHL) #28 - Joe Miller – C (Chicago – USHL) #27 - Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA) #26 - Brandon Lisowsky - LW (Saskatoon - WHL) #25 - Max Ellis - RW (Notre Dame - NCAA, Toronto - AHL) #24 - Axel Rindell – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga) #23 - Mac Hollowell - D (Toronto – AHL) #22 - Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL) #21 - Semyon Der-Argushintsev - C (Toronto - AHL) #20 - Curtis Douglas - C (Toronto – AHL) #19 - Mikhail Abramov – C (Toronto – AHL)
#18 - Dennis Hildeby - G (Farjestad - SHL)
The Maple Leafs are taking a shotgun approach to their netminder prospects, with five goalies in Europe or the lower professional levels in North America under the age of 25, hoping that one will become the first internal candidate to be a full-time starter since James Reimer over a decade ago.
Marlies goalie Joseph Woll (2016), Russian prospects Artur Akhtyamov (2020) and Vyacheslav Peksa (2021), and 2022 Hobey Baker winner Dryden Mckay are all in the mix, but at the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas selected what he hopes is a diamond in the rough in big Swedish goaltender Dennis Hildeby.
#Leafs goalie prospect Dennis Hildeby at the club's Blue and White scrimmage on Friday. pic.twitter.com/ogExnIEQJL
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) July 22, 2022
The 20-year-old went undrafted twice until being selected in the fourth round (122nd overall) by the Leafs last month, after showing signs of putting it together in a brief stint with Farjestad last season. The 6’6…, 234 lb. goalie revealed at the club’s Development Camp last month that he underwent corrective double hip surgery in 2021, but once he returned, he posted excellent numbers with Farjestad of the SHL (1.93 GAA, .930 save percentage in seven games).
“His teams were overrun, yet he stood tall and showed a tremendous amount of poise between the pipes.… The HockeyProspect.com Black Book said. “(Hildeby’s) mental maturity had caught up to his already impressive level of coordination and reflexes, which made him a late-season addition at the SHL level, where he didn’t disappoint.…
Toronto was quick to sign Hildeby to a three-year entry-level contract after the draft, in spite of the fact that he is slated to return to Farjestad for the 2022-23 season. That could be a sign that they hope to bring him to North America as soon as next summer.
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