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CHECK OUT RUSS COHEN’S NHLDRAFTBUZZ.COM FOR INFO ON PROSPECTS AND NEWS IN THE HOCKEY WORLD

The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander), but the focus of prospect development under former GM Kyle Dubas and the last few seasons under Director of Amateur Scouting Wes Clark seemed to be on skill players, while GM Brad Treliving has begun to transition with a focus on young players with size.

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 contribute in the future.

Youngsters like Bobby McMann, Joseph Woll, Nick Robertson, Pontus Holmberg, and top-rated Matthew Knies have graduated, but here is a list of players eligible for the list who have not played more than 40 NHL games and are 25 years old or younger:

#40 - Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Western Michigan – NCAA)
#39 - Zach Solow - RW (Toronto - AHL)
#38 - Semyon Kizimov - RW -(Yekaterinberg - KHL)
#37 - Robert Mastrosimone – LW. (Toronto – AHL)
#36 - Marko Sikic – RW (Sarnia – OHL, Newfoundland/Norfolk – ECHL)
#35 – Jacob Bengtsson – D (Boston College – NCAA)
#34 – Nicolas Mattinen – D (Straubling – Germany-DEL)
#33 – Matthew Barbolini – F (Miami(OH) – NCAA, Toronto – AHL)
#32 – Nathan Mayes – D (Spokane – WHL)
#31 – Braeden Kressler – C (Flint/Ottawa – OHL
#30 – Jacob Frasca – C (Barrie/ Sault Ste. Marie.- OHL)
#29 – Chas Sharpe – D (Mississauga – OHL, Toronto – AHL)
#28 – Hudson Malinoski – C (Providence – NCAA)
#27 – John Fusco – D (Dartmouth – NCAA
#26 – Semyon Der-Argushintsev (Chelyabinsk Traktor – KHL)
#25 – Ty Voit – RW – (Newfoundland, ECHL, Toronto – AHL
#24 – Mikko Kokkonen – D – (Toronto – AHL)
#23 – Matt Lahey – D – (Nanaimo – BCHL)
#22 – Sam McCue – LW (Peterborough/Owen Sound – OHL)
#21 – Victor Johansson – D (Leksands Jr. – Sweden)
#20 - Alexander Plesovskikh - LW (Yugra - VHL)
#19 - Miroslav Holinka – C (Trinec Ocelari HC U20 – Czechia)
#18 – Roni Hirvonen – C (Toronto – AHL)
#17 – Timofei Obvintsev – G (CSKA Red Army Jr. – MHL)
#16 – Vyacheslav Peksa – G (Newfoundland – ECHL)

#15 – Cade Webber – D (Boston University - NCAA)



The Leafs under Treliving have been focusing more on adding players of a larger stature to their prospect pool as free agents on AHL contracts, with late-round draft picks, and at the deadline they went the trade route by acquiring defenseman Cade Webber from the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

Webber was a fourth-round pick of the Canes in 2019 and played his youth hockey in Pittsburgh before moving to Massachusetts in 2018 and playing briefly in the US National Development Program and for Team USA in the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

The 6’7”, 209 lb. blueliner played four seasons at Boston University. and was dealt by Carolina likely because they were not going to be able to sign him before he became an unrestricted free agent in August. Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala describes Webber as a defensive defenseman with excellent ability as a shot-blocker and “above-average agility in open ice”.

The 23-year-old is not an offensive player (having scored one goal in 125 games over four seasons at BU), but with his size and positional awareness, he could develop into a shutdown defenseman and penalty killer. Webber is expected to start with the AHL Toronto Marlies but could be a candidate for being called up at some point during next season depending on how well he adjusts to the pro game.

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