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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)
The Maple Leafs are taking a shotgun approach to their netminder prospects, with five goalies in Europe or the lower professional levels in North America under the age of 25, hoping that one will become the first internal candidate to be a full-time starter since James Reimer over a decade ago.
Marlies goalie Joseph Woll (2016), Russian prospects Artur Akhtyamov (2020) and Vyacheslav Peksa (2021), and big Swede Dennis Hildeby (2022) were all Toronto draft picks, but Leafs GM Kyle Dubas chose to go the undrafted free agent route for another option, signing NCAA product Dryden Mckay to an AHL contract.
The Downer Grove, IL native came out of the USHL and went undrafted, playing four seasons with Minnesota State University. In his senior season, the 24-year-old posted a 38-5-0 record, 1.31 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage in 43 games and reached the NCAA Championship game before losing to Denver. McKay was named the CCHA Player of the Year, CCHA Goaltender of the Year, First Team All-CCHA, established NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey records for single-season wins (38) and career shutouts (26), and was awarded the 2022 Hobey Baker Award.
McKay accepted a six-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping violation in mid-April, which means he will not be eligible to play for the Marlies until mid-October.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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