Toronto Maple Leafs May Have Found a Hidden Gem In Alex Steeves

Back in March, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed undrafted free agent Alex Steeves to a three year entry level deal. He was being coveted by many NHL teams, but Toronto came out on top.

Steeves spent the past three seasons playing for the University of Notre Dame in the NCAA. Last season he scored 15 goals and 17 assists for 32 points in 29 games.

Most recently, Steeves performed very well at the Toronto Maple Leafs development camp. In the development camp’s final Blue-versus-White scrimmage game on Monday, Steeves scored four goals.

After that game, the development camp was trimmed down from 39 players to 26 players. Those 26 players will start competing in the Traverse City Tournament this Thursday.

 Alex Steeves and the Toronto Maple Leafs

So far so good for the 21-year-old forward. He looked like a man amongst boys during the development camp. He will be looking to have a successful tournament prior to joining the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp.

Senior director of player development Hayley Wickenheiser and her staff have given Steeves a new strength and conditioning regimen. He has also worked closely with Barb Underhill on his skating.

When asked by the Hockey News about Toronto Maple Leafs training camp, Steeves delivered an answer full of confidence. “For training camp, what my goal has been and what it will continue to be is: be the best version of myself, compete really hard, and make it really hard on the Leafs to turn me down,”  

Making the main Toronto roster is a long shot, but you have to love his determination. He will benefit more by playing top minutes on the Toronto Marlies this season.

Steeves might even end up being linemates with Toronto’s top prospect, Nick Robertson. The two of them playing together could be very entertaining to watch. It will be nice to see how both of these players do against prospects from the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, and St. Louis Blues in the Traverse City tournament.

The tournament runs from Thursday, September 16th to Monday, September 20th. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospects will play one game against each other team. The Toronto management team will be keeping a close on all of their prospects but will not shy away from paying even closer attention to Steeves now that he has put himself out there as a top performer.

Tournaments such as this one in Traverse City are a good chance for teams to see how prospects have progressed since the following season. I look forward to watching our Toronto prospects shine in this tournament.