7. Nick Moldenhauer
Age: 18
Height/Weight: 5’10 170 lbs
Position: Right Wing
Shoots: Right
Draft: 3rd Round 95th overall, 2022
Nick Moldenhauer was taken by the Leafs this past summer in the NHL Entry Draft, with their third pick.
The Leafs had the 79th pick, saw that the player they wanted wasn’t going to get taken yet, and turned that pick into two later picks: 95 and 135.
Since the 79th pick is a longshot to make it, might as well get two prospects, and one of those is Nick Moldenhauer, a right winger from the USHL who plays for the Chicago Steel.
If you know about Moldenhauer, it’s probably because of the insane story about his injury that Scott Wheeler wrote about in the Athletic , which is paywalled and which I can’t link to.
According to Wheeler, Moldenhauer was cut along his jawline with a skate in his first game after returning from being out two months with mono. This cut was very bad, but it turned out that it had also hit his carotid artery and required a blood transfusion.
Like pretty much every single player on this list, Moldenhauer lacks the kind of jaw-dropping skill that would make him a top pick, but he is a very good skater, a good puck handler, has a decent shot and – this will shock you – the best part of his game is his situational awareness and positioning…..aka……his hockey sense…..aka he’s a very intelligent player.
The Leafs have a type.
So far there are four players on this list: Kokkonen, Steeves, Hirvonen and Moldenhauer. They are all characterized by their determination and intelligence.
I ranked Moldenhauer highest out of the four (possibly because he’s the newest, but also) because I think his back-to-back injuries and late season breakout suggest a player who fell in the draft but could have gone higher if he was healthy.
The pre-draft rankings further this hypothesis, and so I think the Leafs might have scored some value with this pick.