The Toronto Maple Leafs Top 10 Prospects for the 2024-25 Season

It's been twelve seasons since the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Morgan Rielly with the 5th pick of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and cemented the first piece of their eventual core.

Two years later, the Toronto Maple Leafs took William Nylander 8th overall, and followed that up by drafting Mitch Marner 4th and Auston Matthews 1st.

As soon as they drafted Matthews, the rebuild was effectively over because all their subsequent draft picks would be middle of the pack or lower. It has now been 8 drafts since the Leafs made a high pick and while trying to be competitive, they have traded many of the picks they did have along the way.

Therefore, the 2024 Toronto Maple Leafs do not have a very good prospect system. With years of low picks, traded prospects and very few obvious successes, the Leafs just don't have a very good system.

it is, however, better than it could be. That might be faint praise, but a decade of drafting for hockey-sense and high-end skill may yet pay off. The Leafs are not stocked with high-end talent, but they do have some intriguing players and their overall system is, all things considered, not that bad.

If there is one additional thing that hurts this group, its all the recent graduations. Joseph Woll, who came into this season with the inside track on the starter's job, was their top prospect just last year. Matthews Knies was their number-two prospect and Nick Robertson was third. All three are now on the Leafs and in the NHL.

Before we get to the top ten, we'll recap the last couple years for posterity.

Toronto Maple Leafs Top Prospects

Before getting down to the business of ranking the Toronto Maple Leafs top prospects, here is the last two years of rankings.

2023-24 Top Prospects

Here is the full article.

10. Nick Moldenhauer, 9. Roni Hirvonen, 8. Mikko Kokkonen, 7. Ty Voit, 6. Fraser Minten, 5. Easton Cowan, 4. Topi Niemela, 3. Nick Robertson, 2. Matthew Knies, 1. Joseph Woll

The year before, we ranked them as follows: 10. Mikko Kokkonen, 9. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, 8. Ty Voit, 7. Mikhail Abramov, 6. Matthew Knies, 5. Timothy Liljegren, 4. Topi Niemela, 3. Rodion Amirov, 2. Rasmus Sandin, 1.Nick Robertson.

As you can see, with the possible exception of Matthew Knies and Joseph Woll, the Leafs prospect pool hasn't been much to write home about. This year, it's not much different in terms of high-end players, but I think the Leafs have a lot of decent lottery tickets that could potentially pan out.

Before getting down to business, just a note on the rankings: We try to rank the players by considering their overall ceiling in a best case scenario vs the likelihood that that actually occurs. For that reason, we might have players like Ben Danford - almost certain to be an NHL player, just not a very good chance that he's a star - a little lower than most other publications.

On to the top 2024-25 10 prospects in the Toronto Maple Leafs system. (Note: Height, weight, draft info from hockeydb.com).

10. Cade Webber

Age: 23

Height/Weight: 6'7",212 LBS.

Position: Defense

Shoots: Left

Draft:
4th Round, 99th Overall 2019 (Carolina Hurricanes)

After Cade Webber was drafted, he spent four years at Boston University and the Carolina traded him to the Leafs for a 6th round pick last year.

Weber is nearly the end of his shelf-life as a viable NHL prospect, and personally I don't think he's as good, or at least as talented, as Mikko Kokkonen, who I left off to put Webber here. That said, Webber is absolutely huge, and the Leafs hope that with improved skating he can be a solid NHL player.

Compared to Kokkaonen, Weber is a worse player. But Kokkonen is kind of like Timothy Lijegren in that he's a very good all-round player, but isn't gifted at any one thing. Those players, while effective, are unpopular with NHL GMs obsessed with size.

The Leafs clearly like Webber more than they like Kokkonen, because of his size. The Leafs top-four looks about set for years, and Webber has a much better chance of earning some ice-time on the bottom pairing than Kokkonen does with the Leafs current regime.

For example, just look at how the Leafs are playing Simon Benoit regularly over Timothy Liljegren, and you can see why I would rank Webber over Kokkonen.

To be honest, if either of these guys ends up in a significant role on a competitive NHL team, I would be shocked. I think Kokkonen is a safer bet for eventual NHL minutes, but if Webber can improve his skating to NHL level, he might have a higher upside due to his size.

8. Roni Hirvonen

Age: 22

Height/Weight: 5'10",178 LBS.

Position: Centre

Shoots: Left

Draft: 2nd Round, 59th Overall 2021

With five points in his first seven games this year with the Marlies, and the Toronto Maple Leafs as thin as any team in the NHL, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hirvonen in the NHL sooner than later.

He is a very interesting player, in that he's smart, he's talented, and he's small. If he was larger, he'd already be in the NHL, but with this player, I am not sure it matters. He's tough, he's crazy, and everyone who has ever worked with him just raves about his dedication, intelligence, toughness, endurance, etc.

He is physical, he can defend, and he can score a bit. His skating is strong and he is extremely intelligent. If not for a near career ending eye injury last year, he likely would have been more of a candidate to make the team out of camp.

Right now Max Domi is playing centre for the Leafs, and that's good news for the future of Roni Hirnovnen's chances of playing in the NHL this year, even though as far as I can tell, he's mostly been used as a winger over the last couple of seasons.

Like many players from the Leafs previous regime, Hirvonen might not get a chance with the new size-obsessed Toronto Maple Leafs. It will be interesting to see if he gets the call this year or not. I bet that he does.

7. Ben Danford

Age: 18

Height/Weight: 6'2",193 LBS.

Position: Defense

Shoots: Right

Draft: 1st Round, 31st Overall 2021

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted a stay-at-home defenseman with a first round pick, and that is enough to make me want to bang my head into a wall. This isn't exactly as dumb as drafting a fourth liner like Freddie Gauthier with a first round pick, but it's in the same ballpark.

The low ceiling of a player like Danford pretty much makes it a waste of a pick. He likely tops out as a 3rd pairing defender, if he makes the NHL at all. He probably has a higher chance of making the NHL, due to his size and pedigree as an OHL captain, but he isn't ever going to be a star.

Unless....

Unless he develops more offense to his game and can get his puck moving abilities up to NHL level, which is toally possible, and the reason he is on this list.

If Danford develops an offensive game, he might be a quality top-four NHL defenseman. The Athletic ranked his skating as NHL average and his puck skills below average. Unless Danford can improve a lot, this pick is going to be a waste. Sure, every team needs big defenseman, but ones that can't score or move the puck are a dime a dozen

The best thing Danford has going for him is being drafted by Wes Clark who has earned the benefit of the doubt by drafting players like Robertson and Knies, as well as recent picks Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten.

6. Fraser Minten

Age: 20

Height/Weight: 6'2",195 LBS.

Position: Centre

Shoots: Left

Draft: 2nd round, 38th overall

Fraser Minten is basically the forward version of Ben Danford. He's smart, he's good defensively, he can be a leader and he was drafted because he already seems like a pro.

But like Danford, his lack of offense is going to limit what he can do at the NHL level. Minten had a great camp last year and almost stuck around beyond the ten game mark of his tryout. This year he missed camp due to an injury, but is now back with the Marlies.

Minten, like Hirvonen, could end up getting a chance to play some centre in the NHL this year because of how thin the Leafs are at that position. If he can impress in the AHL, the Leafs might just be able to use him right now.

I ranked Minten ahead of Hirvonen because he's younger and bigger, but they are similar players - both are smart and good defensively and might not have enough scoring power to succeed in the NHL, but both will play NHL games for sure.

Minten's career potential is likely a third-line centre, but he could potentially be an elite one of those. And, who knows? He might find some previously untapped offensive potential and become a star after all - he has pretty much already exceeded what people thought he was when he was first drafted, so maybe he will end up better than we think.

As of now, however, he doesn't have the scoring ability or the creativity to be anything more than a 4th line centre in the NHL.

5. Topi Niemela

Age: 22

Height/Weight: 6'0",180 LBS.

Position:: Defense

Shoots: Right

Draft: 3rd round, 64th overall, 2020

Topi Niemela has been one of the Toronto Maple Leafs top prospects ever since he was first drafted and then went on to win the best defenseman at the World Juniors award.

Niemela is an intelligent, all-round puck mover who isn't huge and doesn't excel really at any single aspect of the game....much like the recently traded Timothy Liljegren. Not only did the Leafs bail on Liljegren, but they also seem to have bailed on Niemela, who did not get into a pre-season game until the pre-season was almost over.

There was a real thought that Niemela might make the Leafs this year, or at least get called up, but he doesn't appear to be in their plans, even after a very successful first season in the AHL.

I previously thought that Niemela would be a top-four option for the Leafs eventually, with a good shot at perhaps being a star in the Gustav Forsling style, but now I am not even sure he fits into the Leafs plans at all.

Niemela is a solid player who will for sure eventually play games in the NHL, but whether those games will be with the Leafs is anyone's guess. After how they treated Liljegren, I wouldn't expect them to suddenly start playing Niemela.

As we have seen, good skating and smart, puck moving players who don't hit or score a lot have a hard time getting noticed in the NHL, even when they put up good numbers. At this point, Niemela seems in danger of falling into the trap that Travis Dermott and Timothy Liljegren fell into before him.

Basically, it doesn't pay to be an effective, but boring player sometimes in the NHL. That said, I'm still ranking him fairly high because he's clearly talented and still has solid potential to be an above average NHL defenseman.

4. Nikita Grebyonkin

Age: 21

Height/Weight: 6'2",210 LBS.

Position: Right Wing

Shoots: Left

Draft: 5th round,135th overall, 2022

Nikita Grebyonkin seemingly came out of nowhere to capture the hearts of Toronto Maple Leafs fans at this year's training camp. He was ultimately cut and sent to the Marlies, but Grebyonkin sure looks like a future NHL player, maybe even a star.

The solidly build potential power-forward was drafted in the 5th round of the 2022 draft, and played the last two seasons on the KHL, which means he's already played and been successful playing pro-hockey against men.

Grebyonkin didn't just make the KHL, in his second season he scored 19 goals and 41 points. A full season in the KHL is only 67 games, and their highest scorer had 41 goals. Grebyonkin's 19 goals ranked him 31st, and his total points ranked him 41st. (eliteprospects.com).

So far, he has five points and two goals in seven AHL games, and there is a real possibility that he makes his NHL debut this season. He will for sure be an NHL player, and his KHL success has him rocketing up the Leafs prospect charts.

As if Nick Robertson needed more pressure to succeed, but next year's Leafs look like they're going to have to find room for Grebyonkin, Minten and Cowan.

Bottom line on Grebyonkin: with 19 goals in the KHL and already scoring near a point-per-game in the AHL, he could play in the NHL today. His potential to be another Matthew Knies type power forward for the Leafs is extremely exciting.

3. Artur Akhtyamov

Age: 22

Height/Weight: 6'2",170 LBS.

Position: Goalie

Shoots: Left

Draft: 4th round,106th overall, 2020

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted goalie Artur Akhtyamov in the 4th round of the 2020 draft. The Leafs haven't had much luck drafting goalies in the last 30 or so years. Joseph Woll is currently their co-starter, but he is the first good goalie that they have drafted and and developed since Felix Potvin over 30 years ago.

Goalies have a degree of randomness that other players just don't have - you never know what you're going to get - but, they also happen to be the most important players on any roster. Therefore, I tend to rank well regarded goalie prospects very high on these lists because to me, the most important thing about a prosect is their ceiling.

Fraser Minten has a much better chance of making the NHL than Akhtyamov, but Akhtyamov might just win a Vezina trophy and become a household name. Of course, he likely won't, but isn't the fun of these lists the potential?

Since being drafted, Akhtyamov dominated the KHL feeder league he was playing in, they moved up to the KHL and also had success. Though he played just 17 games last year in the KHL, he had a .921 save percentage.

This year, the Marlies have played seven games at the time I'm writing this, and Akhtyamov has started four of them, and won them all. He has a 1.47 GAA and a .947 S%.

Suddenly, the Leafs are looking like a bit of a goaltending factory!

2. Dennis Hildeby

Age: 23

Height/Weight: 6'7",224 LBS.

Position: Goalie

Shoots: Left

Draft: 4th round,122th overall, 2022

Dennis Hildeby is one of the biggest guys in pro hockey, and it's probably too bad that he isn't a defenseman. He is, however, one of the NHL's best goalie prospects, and the Leafs second best prospect overall.

Hildeby made his NHL debut this year, and is currently ranked fourth on the Leafs NHL depth chart, behind Stolarz, Woll and Matt Murray.

While his two NHL games were not exactly anything to write home about, it's important that he's already made an NHL debut at just 23, which is young for a goalie. Hildeby has only gotten into one game so far with the Marlies *(he crushed it) and they have a bit of a problem with too many goalies and not enough games, but that's likely a good thing.

Hildeby makes the Leafs extremely deep at the NHL level, and he is also making their prospect pool look quite good considering how many picks and players they've had to trade over the last five years as a competitive team.

While Hideby is a long way from the NHL's top goalie prospect, there is enough variance in goalie performance to be excited about him - he's just so huge that you can't help but be impressed by his mobility.

He's ranked #2 here because of his potential, and he's ranked ahead of Akhtyamov because he's already played NHL games.

1. Easton Cowan

Age: 19

Height/Weight: 5'11",185 LBS.

Position: C/W

Shoots: Left

Draft: 1st round, 28th overall, 2023

The Toronto Maple Leafs hit gold with the 28th pick of the 2023 draft. People said it was too high to pick him, but the Leafs knew they wanted their guy and they didn't hesitate.

For once, it seems they might have been right.

Cowan exploded in his post-draft season, scoring 96 points and becoming one of the best players in the OHL. He then led the league in playoff scoring, won a Championship and the OHL's Playoff MVP award.

He also deserved to make the Leafs out of camp this year, but a crowded group of forwards left him on the outside looking in. I think it was a mistake as, since he can't go to the AHL, he now has to repeat junior and ride a bus to play in a league that he has nothing left to prove in.

Cowan's career potential is Franchise Player, but that's unlikely. What we should expect is a good top six forward who can perhaps make the all-star team in his best season. That's nothing to sneer at either, but the intelligence in his game - something the Leafs draft specifically for - gives him a chance to go higher.

Frankly, Cowan isn't considered that good around the league. If you read non-toronto-centric Prospect Reports, you won't see him listed among the Michkovs and the Celebrinis. Way down the list is where you find him, but that's because of his size.

Small players can succeed in the NHL, but they sure won't get the benefit of the doubt before they do.

Cowan is a way better prospect than the Leafs should have after eight years of competing for the Cup, but when combined with Minten, Hirvonen, Knies and Robertson, he gives the Leafs an entire second-wave of complimentary players who should be cheap for years to come and finally give the team's superstars some homegrown support.