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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)
The Leafs continue to scour the US College, European and CHL ranks for potential hidden gems that can be developed into useful players, especially with the club having only three draft picks in 2021 and five in 2022. One player that Toronto has taken a chance with was winger Jeremy McKenna.
The Canmore, AB native scored 121 goals over three seasons with the Moncton Wildcats. After a career-high 97 points (45 goals, 52 assists) in 2019, McKenna had 82 points in 57 games and tied for third in the league with 40 goals in an abbreviated 2020 campaign.
After not being picked in three NHL Drafts and being invited to Calgary’s rookie camp in 2019, the 23-year-old was signed to an AHL deal by Toronto. The 5’10…, 180 lb. right-winger is known for his wrist shot and quick release, and has the ability to find space in the offensive zone to get scoring chances. McKenna’s issues are linked to his skating, but the Leafs may believe that can be improved by working with guru Barb Underhill.
With the Newfoundland Growlers shut down in 2020-21, the Leafs scrambled to find McKenna a place to play and he played 20 ECHL games in Wichita, scoring 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists). With the Marlies, the winger scored 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in 28 games.
Last season, McKenna spent most of the season in Newfoundland, averaging over a point-per-game(20 goals, 24 assists in 43 games) with the Growlers, but did not match that level of success with the Marlies, with one assist in 16 AHL games.