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)
The Maple Leafs have a pair of young goaltenders developing in their system in Joseph Woll (2016 third rounder) and Ian Scott (who was selected in the fourth round a year later), but in the 2020 NHL Draft, Toronto focused on selecting players with the longer development window and drafted Russian goalie Artur Ahktyamov.
The 19-year-old was selected in the fourth round (106th overall) after posting a 1.80 GAA in 46 games for Ak-Bars Kazan’s MHL junior squad. Last season, the 6’1” 157 lb. netminder split time between the MHL, the second pro-level VHL (with a 1.90 GAA in 14 VHL games) and starting three KHL games.
#Leafs lines from group 1 working on drills (Auston Matthews took the early skating drills, but is not participating in 5-on-5 drills) pic.twitter.com/OttTQeZrtq
Ahktyamov’s performance earned him notice and a selection to Team Russia’s squad for the Karjala Cup last month and to their squad for the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships, backing up Nashville first-round pick Yaroslav Askarov.
“(Akhtyamov) is a guy that we did a lot of work on with all our goalie guys. He's a little bit older, but we felt he's got potential.” Former Leafs Director of Amateur Scouting John Lilley said last October. “He's a goalie, so it's gonna take time, but we thought he was worthy of the pick where we selected him.”
The youngster started once this season for Ak-Bars, but as a third-stringer behind the more experienced Igor Bobkov and Timur Bilyalov, he could be sent back to the VHL for more playing time.
Woll and Scott will likely play in the AHL and ECHL this season, with a potential of reaching the NHL in 2022 or 2023 depending on how they perform, while the time frame for Ahktyamov could be as much as three-to-four years, gaining experience and playing regularly in Russia.
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