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)
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.
Last season, GM Kyle Dubas once again added KHL free agents in defenseman Mikko Lehtonen and winger Alexander Barabanov, but both could not earn regular playing time and were moved to other clubs. In May, the Leafs signed forward Kirill Semyonov to a one-year entry-level contract.
The 26-year-old has played most of his six KHL seasons for his hometown Avangard Omsk club (who won the Gagarin Cup), scored 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in 60 games last season and nine points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 23 playoff games.
Semyonov led Omsk in scoring in 2019-20 with 46 points (16 goals, 30 assists) in 62 games playing mostly on the first line, but was relegated to a lower line after Omsk stocked up on former NHLers (Reid Boucher, Jiri Sekac, Klim Kostin and Ilya Kovalchuk) with the KHL staying active through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The forward is represented by agent Daniel Milstein (who represents 2020 first rounder Rodion Amirov, Mikheyev, and former Leafs Barabanov and Egor Korshkov), and signed a one-year, two-way deal for $750,000 / $70,000. It is likely with the Leafs well stocked at forward that Semyonov will begin his season in the American Hockey League, but being waiver exempt, he could be a frequent call-up if he adjusts and performs well in his first season in North America,
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