September 32-in-32: Toronto Maple Leafs
Austin Kelly
2024-09-29
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Welcome to the September edition of the DobberProspects 32-in-32 Series. This month, we explore each organization in depth, examining its recent graduates, risers, fallers, and top-20 fantasy prospects.
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By: Austin Kelly
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a quiet off-season on the ice. After another first round exit, the Leafs, faced with countless reports about the future of the franchise, ultimately ran it back, keeping the core-four intact, not overly changing the team’s look. The biggest move came off-ice, with the departure of head coach Sheldon Keefe, and the hiring of Craig Berube, signalling this year is win-now, and time has started to run out.
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Off-Season Moves
The Leafs big moves came on defense, moving out TJ Brodie, Mark Giordano, Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin, bringing in Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson as replacements, the latter a recent cup champion with Florida. Along with a winner in OEL, Toronto added Panthers cup winner Anthony Stolarz, who backed up Sergei Bobrovsky and will fight Joseph Woll for #1 in net. Offensively, little looks different. Their top forwards are back, the big move out being Tyler Bertuzzi. Toronto has the depth to replace him with their current roster along with their top forward prospects such as Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten, but brought in Max Pacioretty on a PTO as a potential option for Toronto’s top-nine.
At the draft, Toronto added defenseman, Ben Danford, 31st overall after trading down with the Anaheim Ducks, adding a defensive defenseman in a much needed area for Toronto to address. The Leafs scouting team stocked up on big, physical defenders to address a lack of it in their pipeline, but also took chances on offense with Czech two-way Center, Miroslav Holinka, and creative Russian Alexander Plesovskikh. Toronto also selected one of their recent draft favorites in another Russian overage goalie in Timofei Obvintsev. After the draft, Toronto lost head scout Wes Clark and regional scout Chris Roque to Pittsburgh, hiring Dallas Stars scout Mark Leach, the right-hand man to Joe McDonnell’s recent draft success.
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Potential NHL Graduates
Easton Cowan, RW
Humans have a bias for familiarity. As the off-season starts, there is little time for many fans to digest the vastness of the NHL Draft and all it’s prospects. Fans rely on draft experts to give a projection of who will be around the Leafs pick, and provides a concise read of their game. All that went out the window with Cowan, a player most casual draft viewers at home did not know, and for fair reason, no one had Cowan as a first round pick in scouting circles.
A year later, Leafs fans must see the Leafs scouting team that year as divine prospect oracles, able to see what no one else could. Cowan, an incredible hard worker, pushed harder and harder in his game and had immense growth early on, looking like a surprise contender to make the Leafs last season, and may do so again this year, at least coming close if not. He is a relentless workhorse who will do everything to win. He may be sent down to give him one more year of top line play instead of forcing him to fight for a spot, but Cowan will not be waiting for a full-time role for long.
Fraser Minten, C
Currently, Minten is uninjured so his timetable is slightly murky, that could be a benefit if Toronto has to wait until the regular season to see what Minten can do right now against NHLers. Minten, like Cowan, went above and beyond last season to be better. A trade from Kamloops to Saskatoon didn’t cause Minten to miss a beat who continued to be a top player throughout the year. He’s strong and physical enough to be a bottom-six forward and has the versatility to feel multiple holes in the Leafs lineup.
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Risers
Nikita Grebenkin, LW/RW
Do not discount Grebenkin as the Leafs prospect with the highest number of NHL games played this season. The two-way Grebenkin has the overall tools to succeed in a bottom-six role and have an immediate transition to the NHL game with a style of play in Europe that is aggressive and pressing, translatable pro tools. His 41 points in 67 games for KHL champions Metallurg was enough for Toronto to feel comfortable bringing Grebenkin over, and he may be ready to step in already.
Noah Chadwick, D
A sixth round pick of the Maple Leafs in the 2023 Draft, Chadwick was a raw player who had a bit of filling out in his overall game to get to, and Chadwick hit those marks almost right out the gate. He has gone from a project to one of the team’s key prospects and a more likely future NHL-calibre defenseman.
Denis Hildeby, G
Hildeby was always a well regarded prospect thanks to his immense size and skill, but a move to the AHL full time last season showed just how mature Hildeby really is.
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Fallers
Vyacheslav Peksa, LW
Peksa did not have a very easy transition to North American Hockey. Peksa had a 5-19-1 record in the ECHL with Newfoundland a with a 3.66GAA and a .890SV. He was the third goalie for the Growlers and looked like it. He’s still young, but perhaps he would have been better off in Russia getting some more time.
Roni Hirvonen, C
Hirvonen is still a promising player with some potential, but he is not close to the NHL as of yet. A lot has gone on behind the scenes for Hirvonen, things beyond his control, so he deserves a chance to redeem himself. He struggles to dominate the game enough to look like a top-six forward and his lack of size won’t help him translate to the bottom-six. Time will tell what will become of him but it’s too soon to write him off, but his upside is starting to slide.
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Organizational Depth Chart
(Combination NHL readiness and upside)
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Nick Abruzzese | Fraser Minten | Easton Cowan |
| Alexander Plesovskikh | Alex Steeves | Nikita Grebenkin |
| Ty Voit | Jacob Quillan | Nick Moldenahuer |
| Kirill Slepets | Roni Hirvonen | Ryan Tverberg |
| Miroslav Holinka | Joe Miller | |
| Hudson Malinoski | Max Ellis | |
| Braeden Kressler |
| Left Defense | Right Defense |
| Noah Chadwick | Topi Niemela |
| Mikko Kokkonen | Ben Danford |
| Victor Johansson | William Villeneuve |
| Cade Webber | John Fusco |
| Matthew Lahey | |
| Nathan Mayes | |
| Marshall Rifai |
Goalie
Denis Hildeby
Artur Akhtyamov
Vyacheslav Peksa
Timofei Obvintsev
Denis Hildeby
Artur Akhtyamov
Vyacheslav Peksa
Timofei Obvintsev
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Top 20 Fantasy Prospects
This section is intended to paint a picture of the Toronto Maple Leafs prospects whose current trajectory projects them making the most positive fantasy impact when they reach the NHL. Arrival date and NHL certainty have been considered; however, potential upside is the most important factor in determining this list.
- Easton Cowan
- Fraser Minten
- Topi Niemela
- Ben Danford
- Nikita Grebenkin
- Denis Hildeby
- Noah Chadwick
- Artur Akhtyamov
- Roni Hirvonen
- Miroslav Holinka
- Mikko Kokkonen
- Nick Moldenahuer
- Hudson Malinoski
- William Villeneuve
- Ryan Tverberg
- Nick Abruzzese
- Jacob Quillan
- Victor Johansson
- Cade Webber
- Ty Voit
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Austin Kelly
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