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The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall, and Justin Holl), but the club under GM Kyle Dubas has 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 upcoming 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 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Yugra - VHL)
#39 - Kalle Loponen – D (Koo Koo Kouvola/JyP HT – Finland SM-Liiga)
#38 - Jeremy McKenna – RW (Wichita – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#37 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA)
#36 - Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Newfoundland – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#35 - Ryan Chyzowski - LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#34 - Braeden Kressler - C (Flint - OHL)
#33 - Nikita Grebyonkin - RW (Stalnye Lisy - MHL, Magnitogorsk - KHL)
#32 - Vyacheslav Peksa - G (Ibris Kazan - MHL)
#31 - Dryden McKay - G (Minnesota Duluth - NCAA)
#30 - Bobby McMann - C (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#29 - Pavel Gogolev – LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#28 - Joe Miller – C (Chicago – USHL)
#27 - Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA)
#26 - Brandon Lisowsky - LW (Saskatoon - WHL)
#25 - Max Ellis - RW (Notre Dame - NCAA, Toronto - AHL)
#24 - Axel Rindell – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga)
#23 - Mac Hollowell - D (Toronto – AHL)
#22 - Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL)
#21 - Semyon Der-Argushintsev - C (Toronto - AHL)
#20 - Curtis Douglas - C (Toronto – AHL)
#19 - Mikhail Abramov – C (Toronto – AHL)
#18 - Dennis Hildeby - G (Farjestad - SHL)
#17 - Ty Voit – LW (Sarnia – OHL)
#16 - Filip Kral - D (Toronto - AHL)
#15 - Nick Moldenhauer - RW (Chicago - USHL)
#14 - Rodion Amirov – LW (Ufa Salavat – KHL)
#13 - Ryan Tverberg – C (Connecticut – NCAA)
In a 2020 Draft the Maple Leafs went heavily with European and American prospects, Toronto opted to select local product Ryan Tverberg with one of their three seventh-round picks. The native of Richmond Hill, ON is the highest climber on this year’s prospect list, rising from #39 to #13 overall.
Tverberg was the fifth last player selected at 213th overall, after scoring 51 points (26 goals, 25 assists) in 47 games for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens system in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) instead of going the traditional route of playing to the Ontario Hockey League.
Originally committed to go to Harvard to join Leafs prospects Nick Abruzzese and John Fusco, the Crimson’s cancellation of their 2021 season saw Tverberg 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. In his sophomore campaign, the 20-year-old led Connecticut with 14 goals, finished second on the club with 32 points, and was named a second-team ACHA All-American. Tverberg was also surprisingly in the mix for the 2022 Team Canada entry for the World Juniors in December but was one of the last cuts.
“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 in 2020. “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, Tverberg according to Elite Prospects has grown to 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 a 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.”
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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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