Toronto Maple Leafs: Breakdown Of All Unsigned Prospects
Like most teams that wish to have a long lasting franchise, the Toronto Maple Leafs accumulate prospects.
Some of these prospects are drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs, while others are acquired through trades. Due to the limited number of pro contracts allowed by the NHL (50), some of these prospects go unsigned.
Every season, teams add anywhere from five to ten prospects to their already crowded prospect pool. Sometimes teams add even more than that depending on how many draft picks they have. It is up to the team scouts to continuously watch and evaluate each prospect. Even though many prospects show potential, not all of them make it to the NHL.
Once the Stanley Cup has been awarded, the next big thing for each Franchise is the NHL draft. Only a handful of teams get to choose from the best prospects available on draft day, so many teams rely on their scouting staff to help them find the best of what is left.
Having a good scouting staff can go a long way for any franchise. Once teams start drafting players in the later rounds of the draft, each team is hoping to find a couple of diamonds in the rough. Those players that show potential, but are going to take longer to develop.
Toronto has a fairly substantial list of prospects that still remain unsigned. Some of these prospects are coming up to the deadline for being signed while others have another year or more. The Toronto Maple Leafs will have some tough choices to make on which prospects to keep and which ones to let go of.
Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects Needing to be Signed in 2022
The Toronto Maple Leafs are lucky when it comes to prospects they need to sign in 2022. They only have two prospects that need to be signed in the coming year. One is a defenseman playing Finland, while the other is a defenseman playing the NCAA.
Axel Rindell
Axel Rindell was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL draft. They drafted him with the 177th overall pick. He is a 6’0, 176 lbs right shooting defenseman from Espoo, Finland.
Rindell is currently playing with Karpat in Liiga (Finnish Elite League) on loan after starting the season with Jukurit. In 30 games this season, he has one goal and 13 assists for 14 points. He is currently teammates with another Maple Leafs prospect, Topi Niemela on Karpat.
(Stats from: eliteprospects.com some info from capfriendly.com).
The deadline for signing Rindell is June 1st, 2022. This gives Toronto just over five months to make a decision.
Ryan O’Connell
Ryan O’Connell was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL draft. Toronto drafted him with the 203rd overall pick. O’Connell is a 6’1, 185 lbs left shooting defenseman from Gloucester, Ontario, Canada.
He is currently playing for Ohio State University in the NCAA. This is his fourth and final season playing for Ohio State. O’Connell has two assists in 13 games this season. One of the reasons Toronto drafted him in 2017, was his 33 points in 47 games for St. Andrews College. He has never come close to putting up the same type of numbers in the NCAA.
The deadline for signing O’Connell is August 15th, 2022. With him already being 22 years old and not having much luck in the stats department, O’Connell might be one of the prospects Toronto decides not to sign.
Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects Needing to be Signed in 2023
The Toronto Maple Leafs currently have three prospects that are unsigned with a deadline for signing in 2023. One of them is playing in the NCAA, while the other two are playing Finland.
Kalle Loponen
Kalle Loponen was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL draft. They drafted him with the 204th overall pick. Loponen is a 5’11, 187 lbs right shooting defenseman from Hameenlinna, Finland.
He is currently playing with KooKoo in Liiga and has four points in 32 games. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Loponen spent the 2019-20 season playing for the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL. He had 24 points in 56 games that season.
The deadline for signing Loponen is June 1st, 2023. Plenty of time for Toronto to figure out what he can provide to the team.
Mikko Kokkonen
Mikko Kokkonen was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round of the 2019 NHL draft. He was selected with the 84th overall pick in that draft. Kokkonen is a 5’11, 194 lbs left shooting defenseman from Mikkeli, Finland.
Kokkonen is currently playing for the Lahden Pelicans in Liiga. He has eight points (all assists) in 28 games. He played 11 games for the Toronto Marlies last season and recorded one goal and six assists for seven points.
The deadline for Kokkonen to be signed by Toronto is June 1st, 2023.
Nicholas Abruzzese
Nicholas Abruzzese was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL draft. Toronto selected him with the 124th overall pick. Abruzzese is a 5’9″ 161 lbs centre from State Hill, New York, USA.
He is currently playing in his third year at Harvard University and is the team’s captain. Abruzzese has 15 points in 11 games so far this season. He did not play last season due to the pandemic, but in the 2019-20 season, Abruzzese recorded 44 points in 31 games.
The deadline for Abruzzese to be signed is August 15th, 2023.
2024 and 2025
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a current list of ten prospects that do not need to be signed until at least 2024. This allows the team ample time to watch and evaluate these prospects. It is unlikely that all of them will become NHL regulars, but some will.
The following list is all the prospects Toronto has with signing deadlines in 2024 and 2025.
2024
Denis Malgin: 24 yo – 5’9″ – 176 lbs – Centre (Deadline is January 18th, 2024)
Roni Hirvonen: 19 yo – 5’9″ – 172 lbs – Centre (Deadline is June 1st, 2024)
Topi Niemela: 19 yo – 5’11” – 165 lbs – RHD (Deadline is June 1st, 2024)
Mike Koster: 20 yo – 5’9″ – 170 lbs – LHD (Deadline is August 15th, 2024)
Veeti Miettinen: 20 yo – 5’9″ – 159 lbs – RW (Deadline is August 15th, 2024)
John Fusco: 20 yo – 5’11” – 181 lbs – RHD (Deadline is August 15th, 2024)
2025
Matthew Knies: 19 yo – 6’3″ – 205 lbs – LW (Deadline is August 15th, 2025)
Joe Miller: 19 yo – 5’9″ – 146 lbs – LW/C (Deadline is August 15th, 2025)
Wyatt Schingoethe: 19 yo – 5’11” – 201 lbs – Centre (Deadline is August 15th, 2025)
Ryan Tverberg: 19 yo – 6’0 – 190 lbs – C/RW (Deadline is August 15th, 2025)
Leafs Top 10 Prospects. dark. Next
This just about covers it. Thanks for reading and we would like to wish everyone reading this a wonderful holiday season.