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)
The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be a conduit for KHL players hoping to break into North America, but the results over the last five years have been mixed. The signings of Nikita Zaitsev and Ilya Mikheyev brought quality depth contributors to the organization, while others such as Igor Ozhiganov and Nikita Soshnikov fizzled and made little impact.
Brennan Menell has taken a circuitous route back to North America after a successful season in the KHL. A native of Woodbury, MN, the 24-year-old was a top scoring blueliner with Vancouver and Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League before signing to a three-year, entry-level contract by the hometown Wild.
The righty defenseman posted two 40+ point AHL seasons with Iowa, but with Minnesota deep on the blueline with Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, and Matthew Dumba, Menell only played five games for the Wild over three seasons and opted to play in Russia last year with the AHL’s schedule in limbo.
It turned out to be a good decision for Menell, who finished second behind Chris Wideman in KHL defensive scoring with 38 points (5 goals, 33 assists) in 47 games with Dynamo Minsk. Toronto acquired Menell’s rights for a conditional 2022 seventh round pick in late July and signed him to a two-way, one-year deal.
More than likely Menell is a depth signing to play the right side with the AHL Marlies with Timothy Liljegren getting a legitimate chance to stick with the big club this season, but with the lack of depth on the right side, the 24-year-old could earn some playing time if the Leafs encounter some injuries.
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