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)
#9 – Egor Korshkov - RW (Lokomotiv - KHL / Toronto – AHL/NHL)
#8 – Mikko Kokkonen – D (Jukurit – Finland SM-Liiga)
The Maple Leafs signaled their turn towards Finnish prospects a year prior to choosing four in 2020 by selecting defenseman Mikko Kokkonen in the third round of the 2019 Draft. Kokkonen was selected 84th overall out of the Finnish SM-Liiga, where he played 56 games and scored 19 points (3 goals, 16 assists) in 56 games for Jukurit Mikkeli as an 18-year-old.
The 5’11”, 198 lb. defenseman is considered an intelligent player and was physically mature at a young age, which helped him advance in the ranks, but still has room to grow in his game. Unlike the first crop of blueliners selected by GM Kyle Dubas in 2018, Kokkonen’s main shortcoming is his skating. According to HockeyProspect.com’s Mark Edwards, his footwork is decent, but his lack of speed hurts him when rushing the puck or when jumping into the play and he has trouble creating separation between himself and his coverage.
"(Kokkonen is) very smart (and a) good defender. (He) can still improve his foot speed, but like a lot of these kids, they all have work to do.” Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley said in Vancouver.
The 20-year-old played in his second straight World Junior for Finland in Edmonton last January and is in his third year of professional hockey in the SM-Liiga, which should help accelerate his maturation and ability to adapt to the North American pro game, but it will likely take some work with Leafs skating consultant Barb Underhill at future development and training camps to improve his mobility and chances of being an NHLer.
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The Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Wednesday, in a battle of the top two teams in the North Division. Toronto will make a couple lineup changes, as Pierre Engvall will play center in between Alex Kerfoot and Jimmy Vesey on the third line. Ilya Mikheyev will play left wing with John Tavares and William Nylander and Travis Dermott will step in for Mikko Lehtonen and Rasmus Sandin on the blueline, as the Leafs go back to the traditional 12 forward and six defensemen alignment.
Frederik Andersen and Carey Price will be in goal.
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