3 Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects On Finland’s Preliminary WJC Roster

Three Toronto Maple Leafs prospects have been named to Team Finland’s preliminary roster for this year’s World Junior Championships.

With the World Junior Championships set to begin later this month, teams have begun the tough selection process and three more Toronto Maple Leafs prospects have landed on the preliminary roster of their country.

According to EliteProspects’ Lassi Alanen, Team Finland have announced a tentative roster ahead of the tournament, set to be held in Edmonton, with some of the Leafs  most recent draft selections being honoured with a position on the team.

With hockey leagues having mixed experiences across the world, especially in Finland and North America, having some of the team’s young prospects playing high-quality international hockey will be an excellent opportunity.

Three Impressive Prospects

The oldest of the three Toronto Maple Leafs prospects to be named on Team Finland’s preliminary roster is defenseman Mikko Kokkonen, who continues to add to his numerous appearances for Jukurit in the SM-Liiga.

So far in his professional career, Kokkonen, who was selected in the third round (84th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft, has already made 126 regular-season appearances in the top professional league in Finland – including 18 so far this year. (stats from eliteprospects.com).

The 5-foot-11, 198lbs left-hander has registered six goals and 32 total appearances in his top-tier career and continues to impress for the Mikkeli-based club, who handed him a coveted alternate captain’s ‘A’ after playing almost his entire career in their system.

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Two selections from the 2020 Draft will be hoping to join Kokkonen in Edmonton this month, with forward Roni Hirvonen and defenseman Topi Niemela also landing on the preliminary list.

Hirvonen has had an impressive start to the 2020/21 season with Ässät, scoring five goals (the same as his draft year) and adding a further four assists in just 21 appearances – just five points short of his total from last year, which he achieved in 52 regular-season games.

The diminutive center already projects to be a solid two-way player at the NHL level if he continues to develop and having a chance at featuring for Team Finland in his first year after being drafted will be an excellent achievement for the Espoo native.

The Toronto Maple Leafs other Finnish selection in the 2020 Draft is defenseman Topi Niemela, who has split his time in the SM-Liiga as well as the Finnish junior league so far this season. Niemela, taken with the 64th overall pick, made 43 appearances in the top tier with Kärpät last season, but has featured just nine times in 2020/21 – registering three assists.

In six games in juniors, the right-handed blueliner has four total points (one goal, three assists) and will benefit from competing for a place on the World Juniors roster, especially with hockey in the country taking a break due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

The chance to represent their country in the top junior hockey tournament in the world is something every player relishes, and the Toronto Maple Leafs will have an opportunity to observe them closely and assess how their development has progressed in the short time since the draft.