Top 10 World Junior Performances by Current Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews, USA Hockey (Photo credit should read RONI REKOMAA/AFP via Getty Images)
Auston Matthews, USA Hockey (Photo credit should read RONI REKOMAA/AFP via Getty Images)
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Toronto Maple Leafs
VICTORIA , BC – DECEMBER 21: Ian Scott #31 of Team Canada . (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)

Over the years many Toronto Maple Leafs prospects have been given the honour of representing their country at the IIHF U20 World Junior Championships.

The tournament is a great opportunity for young junior player to showcase their talents and garnish their resumes in hope of earning NHL positions.

The 2022 World Junior rosters will all be set soon as the tournament begins on December 26th, but right now Toronto Maple Leafs prospects Topi Niemela and Roni Hirvonen have officially made Team Finland, while Matthew Knies (USA) and Ryan Tverberg (Canada) are on preliminary rosters.

Many of the players on the current Toronto Maple Leafs received an invite to the World Juniors early in their hockey careers, and I thought it would be interesting to examine and compare their World Junior success to their NHL success.

It’s also interesting to compare the current Toronto Maple Leafs World Junior stats to the World Junior numbers of some of their prospects and young stars.  Obviously, there’s a big difference between junior hockey and NHL hockey, but it’s fun to guess at the ceiling of a prospect’s talent.

I’ve comprised this Top 10 list of   Leafs World Junior performances from players on the current NHL roster as well as any Leafs prospects.  I ranked the players based on individual World Junior awards and stats. (stats from hockeydb.com).

Most of the players on the current Toronto Maple Leafs roster played in the World Junior Championships, but obviously not every member of the team has.  Here are the players that missed out on the tournament:

Toronto Maple Leafs that Never Played in the World Junior Championships

T.J. Brodie
Michael Bunting
Kyle Clifford
Pierre Engvall
Justin Holl
Michael Hutchinson
Alex Kerfoot
Ilya Mikheyev
Jake Muzzin
Alex Steeves

It’s really not a big list.  It’s amazing that so many of today’s Toronto Maple Leafs took part in this tournament.

Before we get into the Top 10, let’s start with some Honourable Mentions (aka every current Leaf who played in the World Juniors, but didn’t crack the Top 10):