Top 40 Prospects - #18, Leafs vs. Sens (maple leafs)

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Top 40 Prospects - #18, Leafs vs. Sens

By Mike Augello

Sep 29, 2021 • 1:26 pm

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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) #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)

GM Kyle Dubas has had some success finding talent and signing free agents that went undrafted in the CHL, NCAA or played in Europe, like former Leaf Trevor Moore out of the University of Denver in 2016 or KHL products such as Ilya Mikheyev. After selecting four defensemen in the 2018 Draft and dealing one of them in the trade for Jake Muzzin, Toronto added another blueline prospect to the fold by signing Joseph Duszak. After a brief stint in the USHL, Duszak played three seasons with Mercyhurst University and led the club with 47 points (16 goals and 31 assists) in 2018-19. The 5’10…, 185 lb blueliner was pursued by a number of NHL clubs before signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Leafs in mid-March. Duszak joined the Marlies on an AHL tryout contract and was inserted into the lineup after Calle Rosen was injured and acquitted himself well in four playoff games, scoring a goal in the Marlies second-round series against Cleveland. The 24-year-old began the season in Newfoundland and averaged over a point-per-game in 34 games with the Growlers, earning a promotion to the AHL in late November just after Sheldon Keefe was promoted to the Leafs. Duszak’s role with the Marlies increased after the New Year, with Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren being promoted to the NHL after injuries to Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin.

Duszak is a good skater, but will have to get stronger to not get pushed off the puck. With Sandin and Liljegren likely fighting for NHL roster spots, it is probable that he will maintain a significant role with the Marlies along with Kristians Rubins, Mac Hollowell, Teemu Kivihalme, Alex Biega and Carl Dahlstrom.

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The Leafs will be making some lineup changes for their third game of the pre-season, against the Ottawa Senators in Kanata, ON on Wednesday. Toronto is dressing a lineup of mostly players on the bubble or battling for spots higher in the lineup.

Petr Mrazek is expected to go the entire game for the Leafs, and the game will be a test for players like Michael Bunting, Ondrej Kase, Wayne Simmonds, and Nick Robertson (all competing for a spot in the top six), Adam Brooks and Kurtis Gabriel (fighting for a place on the NHL roster) and will feature the battle for the bottom pairing between Sandin, Liljegren and Travis Dermott.

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