Maple Leafs prospect commits to play in NCAA

With the floodgates open between the Canadian Hockey League and the NCAA for players to go back and forth, one Toronto Maple Leafs prospect is using that to his advantage.

Winger Sam McCue is currently playing for the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs and is in his final year of junior eligibility. Instead of turning pro and trying his luck at making the Toronto Marlies roster, or being down in the ECHL and riding even more buses, the 20-year-old has decided to go the college route. Announced by the player himself, he has committed to Bowling Green University and will start there next season.

McCue was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the 2024 NHL Draft at 216th overall. Now with his fourth OHL team, he has become somewhat of a journeyman around the junior league, scoring roughly a point per game through the last couple of seasons with the Owen Sound Attack and Flint Firebirds. He joined the Bulldogs as an overager and clearly has eyes set on graduating junior hockey with some silverware as Brantford is one of the favourites for the Memorial Cup this season.

This is just another example of the advantages some prospects have now that the CHL-NCAA landscape has changed. Instead of taking that massive leap to become a professional, McCue can pause and delay it, but still takes a step forward in development by playing college hockey compared to juniors.

Bowling Green is not the most prestigious program in the college hockey landscape -- on this year's roster there is just one NHL prospect and it's a 21-year-old seventh-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets -- so McCue could potentially really be given a big role on a mediocre team and face some of the best young players in the country.

For now, though, his sights are set on glory in Brantford. This season, McCue has scored two goals and four points in seven games while in more of a depth role for the Bulldogs.