9. Alex Steeves
Age: 22
Height/Weight: 5’11
Position: C
Shoots: Right
Draft: Undrafted
In March of 2021, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Notre Dame star and free-agent Alex Steeves to a three-year entry-level contract.
Steeves was undrafted and went to play college hockey in Notre Dame. He was a significant UFA near the trade deadline in 2021 and the Leafs were the team that signed him.
It was the most hyped UFA signing of a college player by the Leafs since Tyler Bozak a decade ago, and if Steeves ends up half as good as Bozak, I think they’ll be very happy with their signing.
Steeves doesn’t really have any star potential, but he makes this list because he can play in the NHL right now. He’s fast and he can check and play defense, and at the NHL level he might score a little bit.
He goes to the net, grinds, and competes like an animal. Maybe, there is like, a tiny, tiny chance that he’s a late bloomer and ends up being some kind of 25 goal scorer mid-range almost-star. It’s pretty unlikely, but I can definitely see him as like a fan-favorite, poor-man’s Darcy Tucker, if I squint.
Maybe in the old NHL where you needed to be 6’3 to play on the fourth line, Steeves wouldn’t have made it. But in today’s NHL, he might be the kind of zippy, annoying to play against, fourth liner who can chip in with some offense in a limited role.
Maybe one day he is solid enough defensively that he can work his way into a bigger role, but it’s doubtful. Normally I wouldn’t put anyone without star potential on this list, but Steeves could beat out Joey Anderson, Pontus Holmberg, or maybe even Aube-Kubal for a job on the fourth line this year.