Thirty days, twenty prospects, and a handful of honourable mentions later, we’ve officially reached the end of our annual prospect rankings. The Leafs’ prospect system doesn’t necessarily boast any superstar names, widely regarded as being mid-tier to middle-low tier league-wide, but that’s to be expected for a team that’s made the playoffs each of the last eight years and have made considerable efforts to improve their team at the deadline by cutting into their draft stock and prospect pool. You can say what you want about where their farm system is right now, but if nothing else, they’re a far cry away from the Cliff Fletcher “draft schmaft” era of evaluating the next generation of Maple Leafs.
Compared to last season’s rankings, this year saw the addition of four new prospects (two via draft, one via trade and one via undrafted signing) and two who were previously unranked. It also saw the graduation of four players who went on to play a significant amount of NHL games last season and the plummeting of two players out of the rankings. Below is a better-structured overview of which players joined the list and which players left.
Graduated: Matthew Knies (#1 in 2023), Joseph Woll (#2 in 2023), Nick Robertson (#4 in 2023), Pontus Holmberg (#6 in 2023)
Newcomers: Ben Danford (#4), Cade Webber (#13), Jacob Quillan (#15), Miroslav Holinka (#17)
Slippers: Hudson Malinoski (#19 in 2023, honourable mention in 2024), Dmitry Ovchinnikov (#20 in 2023, traded to Minnesota at 2023-24 trade deadline)
In addition to the shuffling of these players in our rankings, the 2024 top-20 also saw some risers and fallers. The biggest rise of any prospect was Noah Chadwick, who went from being an unranked long-term project to skyrocketing into the top-10, landing himself at #7 after he had a breakout year with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. The 6-foot-4 defenceman went from a 20-point season over 56 games in his draft year to doubling his goal total and nearly tripling his assist total for a 56-point campaign through 66 games. With one more year in junior under his belt and an impending opportunity to get some minutes with the Toronto Marlies in 2025-26, there’s room for him to push himself into the top-5 as early as next season.
Then there’s also Easton Cowan, who went from eighth in last year’s rankings to first this year. This one became easy to predict happening almost immediately, as he went from someone who was considered a reach for where the Leafs selected him to shedding any shred of doubt the fanbase may have had in him with a 96-point regular season and a new London Knights franchise record for consecutive games with a point at 36 in a row. For what it’s worth, he carried this streak into the playoffs, so the technical number of consecutive games with a point was 43 if you include that. Cowan will have every opportunity to make the Leafs this season and join the list of graduates next season, but if not, it’s safe to say his spot at #1 will be safe for next year’s rankings.
The unfortunate award of biggest faller goes to Ty Voit, who found himself at #18 on this year’s rankings in comparison to #11 last season. It’s hard to fault the 2021 fifth-round pick for this, seeing that his fall was almost entirely due to season-ending surgery that he was forced to undergo in January. He only got into one game for the Marlies before that and only played five games for the now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. If there’s a silver lining for Voit, he did put up eight points in those five games and has the skill to push for a spot with the Marlies this season and regain some of his status, but with the likely additions of Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebyonkin, among others, the roster spot won’t be handed to him on a silver platter.
Here’s a full look at each player that rose and fell in between last year and this year’s rankings:
RISERS
- F Easton Cowan (8 > 1)
- F Fraser Minten (5 > 2)
- G Dennis Hildeby (10 > 3)
- F Nikita Grebyonkin (12 > 6)
- D Noah Chadwick (NR > 7)
- F Ryan Tverberg (17 > 8)
- G Artur Akhtyamov (15 > 9)
- F Alex Steeves (14 > 10)
- D Mikko Kokkonen (NR > 14)
FALLERS
- D Topi Niemela (3 > 5)
- F Nick Moldenhauer (9 > 11)
- F Roni Hirvonen (7 > 12)
- F Ty Voit (11 > 18)
- F Nick Abruzzese (13 > 19)
- G Vyacheslav Peksa (18 > 20)
- F Hudson Malinoski (19 > HM)
In the middle of all this is one player who stayed in the exact same spot he was in last season – defenceman William Villeneuve at #16. The Maple Leafs’ sixth round pick in 2020. Full marks to this guy for consistency, as he nearly had an identical season in 2023-24 to last year, with one less goal and one more assist for 25 points in 54 games both years. There’s enough offensive upside there for him to make some strides in the Leafs’ farm system, but he’ll need to take a step forward in his development, as funny as it would be to see him push for a third straight 25-point, 54-game season.
The Leafs’ farm system might not be turning many people’s heads, but the one intriguing part of it is that they seemingly have lots of high-floor players. They may not have a blue chip prospect at the top (although Easton Cowan is pretty close to that), but between players like Ryan Tverberg, Alex Steeves, and even Nick Abruzzese, who fell all the way to 19 this year, they have lots of players who have either already dipped their feet into the NHL already or could get that opportunity in 2023-24. They also have a few intriguing players cut from that cloth who may not have been considered to be that close this time last year.
Take Nikita Grebyonkin, for example, who took significant strides in his second KHL season and recently signed his entry-level contract, or goaltender Dennis Hildeby, who’s a couple years older than most players on this list, but has posted good enough numbers at multiple levels of pro hockey to keep him on peoples’ radars. With Cowan pushing for an NHL job this year and players like Grebyonkin and Minten likely headed for the AHL to start the season, it will be interesting to see who gets a head start on determining their ranking for next season.
Below is a full list of our rankings with a link to each individual prospect profile as well as a refresher on our criteria for the rankings and how we determined who qualifies for it.
- Easton Cowan
- Fraser Minten
- Dennis Hildeby
- Ben Danford
- Topi Niemela
- Nikita Grebyonkin
- Noah Chadwick
- Ryan Tverberg
- Artur Akhtyamov
- Alex Steeves
- Nick Moldenhauer
- Roni Hirvonen
- Cade Webber
- Mikko Kokkonen
- Jacob Quillan
- William Villeneuve
- Miroslav Holinka
- Ty Voit
- Nick Abruzzese
- Vyacheslav Peksa
- Honourable Mentions
The TLN Maple Leafs prospect rankings were compiled by a panel of seven TLN writers, each ranking our top 20 prospects to form a consensus group ranking. Rather than hard and fast limits on age or NHL games played to determine “prospect” eligibility, our group decided on a more nuanced approach to include any reasonably young player who is either under contract with the Leafs or on the club’s reserve list, who has not yet established himself as a full-time NHLer.
