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Toronto Maple Leafs: Go-Go-Gogolev! Get Excited About Pavel Gogolev!

By Mike Jack

OSHAWA, ON - DECEMBER 15: Pavel Gogolev #17 of the Guelph Storm skates during an OHL game against the Oshawa Generalsat the Tribute Communities Centre on December 15, 2019 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Getty Images)
OSHAWA, ON - DECEMBER 15: Pavel Gogolev #17 of the Guelph Storm skates during an OHL game against the Oshawa Generalsat the Tribute Communities Centre on December 15, 2019 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Getty Images) /
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The most underrated prospect for the Toronto Maple Leafs is Pavel Gogolev.

I’m super excited to see what he can achieve this season. He’s one of the most offensively gifted prospects for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they didn’t even have to use a draft pick to bring him on board.

Pavel Gogolev is a versatile goal-scoring left winger with great vision and playmaking ability.  He’s an exciting player to watch.  He was undrafted, but in his last OHL season (2019-20) he had 45 goals and 96 points in 63 games with the Guelph Storm.  He was only 19 years old for most of the season. (eliteprospects.com)

Sometimes when a player of this caliber goes undrafted it’s because of their size, but Pavel Gogolev is 6’1 which is average height in the NHL.  He was born in Russia, but there’s not much fear of him choosing the KHL over the NHL since he played four seasons in the OHL.

Apparently, his lack of effort defensively is the reason a lot of teams passed him over in the NHL draft.  The Toronto Maple Leafs have an excellent player development team though, and I’m sure they can get Gogolev going in the right direction defensively.  The skills he has are hard to teach and the skills he requires to play in the NHL can be taught.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Pavel Gogolev

During last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Pavel Gogolev to an AHL deal with the Toronto Marlies.  Gogolev had an impressive short stint with the Marlies scoring 6 goals and 12 points in 13 games.  The Toronto Maple Leafs were so impressed that they signed Gogolev to a 3 year two-way contract this offseason.

Pavel Gogolev is currently on the roster for the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect team taking part in the Traverse City rookie tournament against prospects from the Colombus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars.  His projected role is second line left wing.  First line left wing will be the highly touted Nick Robertson.

I’m excited to see what Pavel Gogolev can do during the rookie tournament and in the main camp for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  It’ll be a long shot for him to make the big club out of camp this season, but I wish him the best.

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He’ll most likely play 2021-22 with the Toronto Marlies, but if he can rock the AHL over a full season, he’ll could get his shot on the Toronto Maple Leafs very soon.

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