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)
In a 2020 Draft that the Maple Leafs went heavily with European and American products, Toronto opted to select a local product with one of their three seventh-round picks. Tverberg, a native of Richmond Hill, ON, played in the Toronto Jr. Canadiens system in the GTHL and Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) instead of the traditional route of heading to the Ontario Hockey League.
“A local kid, we got a ton of kind of looks on in the last year.” Leafs former Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley said last October. “A lot of guys really went to bat for him, especially late. We acquired a pick for him and we like his development path, he's got time on his side.”
Listed at 5’9 ½”, 168 lbs. when drafted in 2020, the 19-year-old according to Elite Prospects is 6’0”, 190 lb. A lack of strength was one of the chief areas of concern in the evaluation of Tverberg in Hockey Prospect’s Black Book.
“Ryan is weak on some pucks and gets bounced around quite often. Has some natural goal scoring instincts and is great at reading the play. Skating is good, added strength will really help out his cause down the road.
While Ryan is slight in size, he does show willingness to enter the dirty areas and he was not afraid to be first on pucks. Overall, Ryan is a talented player, but will need time. He is very weak and will probably have a long road to develop into a pro. The good news is he’s buying some time by going the college route.”
Originally committed to go to Harvard to join Leafs prospects Tony Abruzzese and John Fusco, the Crimson’s cancellation of their 2021 season forced Tverberg to head to the University of Connecticut. In 14 games for the Huskies, the speedy center scored seven points (4 goals, three assists) in 14 games.
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Former #Leafs 2nd round pick in 2008, played 334 NHL games with Chicago, Florida, Boston and New Jersey. Very sad news. RIP https://t.co/lj3AYnR35k
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