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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)
#12 - Joseph Woll – G (Toronto – AHL/NHL)
#11 - Mikko Kokkonen – D (Pelicans – 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 debuted as the youngest player in league at 15 years old and played 56 games and scored 19 points (3 goals, 16 assists) in 56 games for Jukurit Mikkeli in his draft year.
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 21-year-old played in his second straight World Junior for Finland in Edmonton in 2021 and after completing his third year of professional hockey with Jukurit. Kokkonen then came over to North America and played 11 AHL games for the Toronto Marlies, scoring seven points (1 goal, 6 assists).
Returning to Finland last season, Kokkonen played 58 games with the Pelicans, scoring just 15 points (1 goal, 14 assists) before signing his NHL entry-level contract with the Leafs in March. It appears the plan will be to play in North America this season, since the young blueliner may be stagnating playing hockey at home.
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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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