A Profile of Every New Toronto Maple Leafs Player Part 3
The Toronto Maple Leafs have added a collection of new players to the organization, including a troop of skilled wingers.
Parts one and two of this series detailed the new look of the Toronto Maple Leafs at centre and defence. Part three will discuss how the team’s new wingers fit into the organization.
The Leafs have had one of the strongest forward groups in the league for some time now, but with looming salary cap challenges, changes were inevitable this offseason.
The Leafs have traded away two wingers this summer in Patrick Marleau and Connor Brown. After slipping down the depth chart, the team simply could no longer afford to allocate over $8M/season to two fourth line forwards.
Such is life in the NHL’s salary cap era. However, the team has been able to add valuable wingers through free agency and the draft. These new additions possess both NHL capability and potential for growth.
Ilya Mikheyev
Age: 24
Ilya Mikheyev is the latest international free agent that the Toronto Maple Leafs have been able to glean from Europe. Coach Mike Babcock reportedly played a major role in bringing Mikheyev to the Leafs, having had a communication channel with him throughout the past year.
Mikheyev joins a list that includes Calle Rosen, Nikita Zaitsev, Andreas Borgman and Par Lindholm, all of which have brought value to the Leafs, without costing any assets.
Mikheyev arguably has the most pedigree and upside of any international free agent that the Leafs have signed in recent history.
He is a big-bodied, slick skating forward with a natural nose for the net and ability to score. He uses his long reach to protect the puck, has fantastic hands in tight, and can change gears on flat-footed defenders.
He scored 23 goals and 45 points in 62 games last season in the KHL and his highlight reels are filled with a striking blend of speed, agility, and strength. Leafs fans will quickly be surprised by how many tools he possesses after seeing him in action.
How well he will be able to translate those tools to the NHL remains to be seen, but he will almost certainly start the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He could also be a dark horse candidate for a top-6 role, despite the depth the Leafs have at forward.
Nick Robertson
Selected 53rd overall in the 2019 NHL Draft
Age: 17
Nick Robertson was the first selection of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2019 NHL entry draft. Mock drafts predicted Robertson to go anywhere from 23rd – 47th overall, but few would have expected him to drop into the Leafs lap at the 53rd selection.
There is a lot to be excited about with Robertson’s game. He profiles as a hard-nosed player with great competitiveness, physicality, skating, and scoring touch.
As a 5’9” skilled winger with grit, Robertson’s style of play and ability is comparable to Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens.
Robertson had a great statistical year in the Ontario Hockey League with 27 goals and 55 points in 54 games.
His strong season is even more impressive when considering that he missed part of the season with a wrist injury and was one of the youngest draft-eligible players in this year’s class (Robertson won’t turn 18 years old until September 11th).
Robertson will need time to develop as a pro below the NHL level, but his progression will be exciting to monitor. As he climbs the professional ranks, expect him to win the hearts of fans quickly with his combination of skill and tenacity.
Robertson will likely return to the OHL next season and play a leading role with the Peterborough Petes.
Justin Brazeau
Signed April 4th out of the Ontario Hockey League
Age: 21
Justin Brazeau’s story is genuinely absurd. Brazeau stood at 5’10” and 140 pounds in his minor-midget season before being drafted in the 13th round of the OHL draft.
He only put up 13 points in 65 games in his first NHL draft-eligible season and went undrafted, although his potential as a draft steal was inexplicably detected by a very observant writer back in 2016.
Fast forward three years to 2019 and Justin Brazeau has now grown to 6’6” and 225 pounds and is coming off a season where he scored 61 goals and 113 points in 68 OHL games.
Brazeau’s unprecedented development in both size and ability after the age of 18 makes him a very unique prospect. With great hands, scoring touch, and size, the combination of tools that Brazeau possesses are unprecedented from an undrafted Canadian junior player.
The primary concern in Brazeau’s game is his skating. Brazeau has acknowledged that himself, saying, “I’m from the North. I’ve never had too much power skating or anything like that.”
Brazeau is under contract to play with the Toronto Marlies this season, where his progress will largely depend on his ability to improve his skating to withstand the higher pace of play.
Kenny Agostino
Signed July 1st via NHL Free Agency
Age: 27
At first glance, Kenny Agostino looks like an unassuming fringe NHLer. In his professional career, he has played four full seasons in the AHL and only 85 games in the NHL.
However, Agostino has some very positive qualities about his game. In 2016-17 Agostino had the highest scoring season in the AHL of any player in the past 5 seasons. His offensive abilities have been demonstrated at the NHL level as well.
Agostino has scored 29 points/82 games in his NHL career despite playing only 12 minutes per game. His 1.74 points/60 minutes over the past 3 seasons also puts him in the company of steady NHLers and surpasses both Connor Brown and Zach Hyman.
While his offensive talents are intriguing, he brings physicality as well with 164 hits/82 games in his career. The most hits of any Leafs forward last year was Zach Hyman with 102.
Agostino won’t turn heads, but his physical game and ability to score consistently at the NHL level, despite limited minutes, makes him a great fit for the Leafs.
With Zach Hyman out due to injury to start the season, Agostino should get his chance to prove himself in an NHL role with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
New Depth Chart:
NHL Wingers:
1st Line: Andreas Johnsson William Nylander
2nd Line: Zach Hyman Mitch Marner
3rd Line: Ilya Mikheyev Kasperi Kapanen
4th Line: Kenny Agostino Trevor Moore
Depth wingers: Jeremy Bracco, Nic Petan, Darren Archibald, Mason Marchment
Keeping Jeremy Bracco and Nic Petan off the NHL roster is hard to do based on their development at the AHL level. However, with an offensively loaded Leafs team, Bracco and Petan will likely need to force the team’s hand to gain a regular spot in the lineup.
Top 5 prospects:
1 – Jeremy Bracco
2 – Nick Robertson
3 – Dmytro Timashov
4 – Justin Brazeau
5 – Pierre Engvall
With an array of additions to both the NHL roster and prospect pool, the Leafs will have a lot of experimenting to do this season to best utilize the skill sets that each new player brings to the table.
Next. Profiling Every New Leaf Part 1 - Centres. dark
Fortunately, the organization’s resourcefulness this offseason has given them a lot of talent to work with for both now and the future.