Toronto Maple Leafs: Prospects at the World Juniors

The Toronto Maple Leafs had four prospects representing them at the 2019 World Juniors.

Between Canada, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, the Toronto Maple Leafs had goaltender Ian Scott (CAN), defenseman Rasmus Sandin (SWE), winger Pontus Holmberg (SWE), and defenseman Filip Kral (CZE) to show at this year’s tournament.

Leafs defensive prospect Timothy Liljegren was also supposed to be representing Sweden but was held out of the tournament due to an injury.

If you’re a Canadian hockey fan, this year’s showcase was heartbreaking. It was the first time ever Canada failed to even get a medal on their home turf, and they lost in the quarterfinals to Finland as a result of a broken stick on a shot from Noah Dobson. Finland would promptly regain possession and win the tournament in overtime.

Regardless, Toronto Maple Leafs fans were paying attention to both their home countries as well as the prospects the Leafs had out there. Since the three countries with prospects have all been eliminated already, let’s have a look at how they fared at the tournament.

SWEDEN

Rasmus Sandin

Picked in the first round of this past draft, 29th overall, the Leafs seem to have found a jewel deep in the first round.

Sandin was probably the most highly touted Toronto Maple Leafs prospect headed to the World Juniors, given the fact that he’s a first round pick and that he’s been playing in the AHL this year, so fans have been able to play close attention to his game.

After a great start in the AHL with 10 points in 18 games, Sandin represented Sweden and put up four points in five games, finishing in a three-way tie with Chicago Blackhawks prospect Adam Boqvist and Vegas Golden Knights prospect Erik Brannstrom for the team lead in points by a defenseman.

Sandin is proving day in and day out why he’s a valuable prospect for the Toronto Maple Leafs and will most certainly put on the blue and white in the future.

Some have even said that he’s NHL read right now, as crazy as that sounds for a late first round pick from this past summer.  Though it’s highly unlikely we’ll see him in Toronto this year, it’s possible that Sandin has surpassed Timothy Liljegren as the Leafs top prospect.

The Leafs blue line of the future – Morgan Rielly, Travis Dermott, Sean Durzi, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren – looks very exciting.

Sweden

Pontus Holmberg

A left winger drafted in the sixth round, 156th overall in last summer’s NHL Entry Draft, Pontus Holberg also played for Sweden at this year’s World Junior Championships.

The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t originally own a sixth-round pick in last year’s draft, but opted to trade their sixth rounder for next season to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for their sixth rounder in 2018.

They then used that pick to select Pontus Holmberg. This goes to show you that the Leafs brass saw something in Holmberg that they really liked and went out of their way to acquire a pick to select him with.

While Holmberg didn’t put up any points in the tournament this year, he has seven points in 25 games for the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL and will definitely be an under-the-radar prospect to keep an eye on over the next few years.

It’s obviously hard to judge or project player who don’t score a lot who play in Europe and who we don’t get to really see much of, but all signs point to Holmberg as a talented player who could develop into something special along the lines of Andreas Johnson.

Johnsson, currently in the NHL and playing on the Leafs top line, was picked five years ago in the seventh round of the draft, and is also Swedish.  Late picks are longshots, but the Leafs clearly saw something here and it will be interesting to see how Holmberg develops.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Filip Kral

The Maple Leafs selected defenseman Filip Kral in the fifth round of last year’s draft, 149th overall.  So far he’s looking like a solid prospect.

This was his second time representing the Czechs at the tournament, but his time there was short-lived after the Czechs were eliminated after five games.

Kral only put up one goal in five games, but the entire team failed to live up to their standards as top guns like sixth overall pick Filip Zadina didn’t appear on the scoresheet.

Kral will finish his season with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL where he has eight points in 18 games so far.  Another long shot to make the NHL, Kral does have talent and is representative of the Leafs draft philosphy to select players with high ceilings.

Sure, they might not all work out, but when they do, they will be something special. Unlike past Leafs teams who seemed to take the safest picks who were most likely to make the NHL in any capacity, the current regime believes in going for homeruns.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the long term, but as you can see, the Leafs have a ton of interesting prospects already.

Overall, the Toronto Maple Leafs prospects were decent at the world juniors this year. Sandin was by far the most productive, while there wasn’t much to report on for Ian Scott and the other two were rather underwhelming.

These four rookies will head back to their respective teams and look to work their way up to the big leagues

Thanks for reading!