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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) #27 - Kristians Rubins - D (Toronto - AHL / Frederikshavn - Denmark) #26 - Justin Brazeau - RW (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL) #25 – Dmitry Ovchinnikov – F (Sibir Novosibirsk – MHL/KHL) #24 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL) #23 – Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Ottawa – OHL / Wichita ECHL) #22 – Roni Hirvonen – C (Assat Pori – Finland SM-Liiga) #21 – Teemu Kivihalme - D (Toronto - AHL) #20 – Pontus Holmberg – LW (Vaxjo HC – SHL #19 – Filip Kral - D (HC Prerov / Kometa Brno - Czech) #18 – Ian Scott – G (Toronto - AHL) #17 - Joseph Duszak - D (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL) #16 – Mac Hollowell - D (Newfoundland – ECHL / Toronto – AHL / TuTo Turku – Finland Mestis) #15 -Topi Niemela – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga) #14 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev (Center, Peterborough Petes – OHL / Torpedo - KHL) #13 – Adam Brooks – C (Toronto – AHL/NHL) #12 – Mikhail Abramov – C (Victoriaville – QMJHL) #11 – Joseph Woll – G (Toronto – AHL)
#10 – Alexander Barabanov – F (SKA St. Petersburg – KHL)
The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be successful in attracting European free agents. After a moderate success with defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and a useful addition in Ilya Mikheyev, the Leafs signed forward Alexander Barabanov to a one-year entry-level contract in April.
The 25-year-old St. Petersburg native played seven seasons in the KHL for SKA St. Petersburg and for Russia internationally at the 2014 IIHF World Junior, the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and three World Championships, and piqued the interest of more than 20 NHL clubs last season when he finished second in scoring behind New Jersey’s Nikita Gusev with 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists) in 58 games.
With no training camp or pre-season games, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was unable to get a good look at Barabanov in action and that has been reflected in his usage early in the regular season, averaging less than six minutes in four games. Toronto has moved the winger from the active roster to the taxi squad since Barabanov is waiver exempt and thus far the absence of Joe Thornton and Nick Robertson has not resulted in a larger role.
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The Leafs and Edmonton Oilers should be quite familiar with each other, since the two clubs split a pair of games in Toronto last week. Head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated that he will rotate players on the fourth line and bottom pairing, and on Thursday Jason Spezza and Alexander Barabanov will replace Pierre Engvall and Joey Anderson.
Defensively, Travis Dermott will replace Mikko Lehtonen on the bottom pairing with Zach Bogosian and Frederik Andersen will make his seventh start of the season.
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— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) January 28, 2021
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