Across various leagues, Toronto Maple Leafs prospects are either just about finished, about to start the playoffs, midway through their playoffs, or all set for golf season now that the playoffs are over.
The AHL’s Toronto Marlies have 71 points with just nine regular season games left, and they’re still looking to punch their playoff ticket. It’s looking more and more like they’ll finish fourth in the North Division, but they still have time to catch the Rochester Americans, who sit four points ahead with an extra game played.
On the flip side, the Laval Rocket (70 points, six GR), Utica Comets (69 points, seven GR), and Belleville Senators (68 points, eight GR) are all hot on the Marlies’ heels. They’ll have to keep their foot on the gas, as missing the playoffs is still a real possibility. That would be a big step back after they won the North Division last season.
The NCAA’s Frozen Four tournament is underway, with the semi-final matchups set for April 11. The Leafs have two prospects headed to the semis.
There’s so much to discuss, let’s dive into it!
Welcome to the 6ix On Ice Toronto Maple Leafs prospect update. Each week, we’ll take a dive into how the Leafs’ prospects have done in their respective leagues. We have defined a prospect as a skater who has played fewer than 65 NHL games and is younger than 25 years of age. All data is from QuantHockey and EliteProspects. We also use an NHLe calculator built by Christian Roatis (@Croatis), which is used to estimate a player’s equivalent point total in the NHL based on how they are performing in their respective league. The calculator uses the difficulty of the given league combined with the ease at which a player puts up points to determine the NHLe.
Leafs prospect happenings
AHL
- The Marlies played just two games this week, going 1–1 against the Manitoba Moose.
- Mikko Kokkonen had a pair of assists in the loss, bringing his season point totals to 16.
- Nick Abruzzese and Topi Niemela each grabbed an assist in each game for two points apiece.
- Alex Steeves had the primary assist on the overtime winner in Wednesday’s game. Here’s a look at the goal:
- Dennis Hildeby seems to be up and down. He stopped 27 of 28 in the win before allowing four on 28 in the loss a couple of days later.
- The big news for the Marlies this week was the signing of 22-year-old Jacob Quillan out of Quinnipiac University.
- Quillan—an alternate captain for the Bobcats this year—scored 17 goals and 46 points in 39 games this season.
- Quinnipiac beat Wisconsin 3–2 in the first round of the Frozen Four tournament before losing its quarter-final matchup 5–4 to Boston College this weekend. Quillan had a pair of goals on 10 shots through the two games.
- We could see Quillan suit up for the Marlies as early as tonight against the Springfield Thunderbirds.
ECHL
- It’s official—the Newfoundland Growlers are done, effective immediately.
- Any player on the roster who was on an AHL or NHL contract as of March 20 is ineligible to play in the ECHL for the rest of the season. This would include Ty Voit, but he suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the season.
- On the other hand, goaltender Vyacheslav Peksa is also under contract and, unfortunately, will not get to complete his ECHL season.
NCAA
- The NCAA Frozen Four tournament kicked off this week, with four Leafs prospects participating.
- Wyatt Schingoethe and Western Michigan fell 5–4 to Michigan State in the tournament’s first round. Schingoethe recorded four shots and a plus-one rating in the loss. He was one of four players on his team with a plus-minus of one or more.
- Nicholas Moldenhauer and Michigan University eked out a 4–3 win over North Dakota in the first round before rolling over Michigan State 5–2. Over the two games, they scored a whopping seven third-period goals. Michigan U has a date with Boston College in the semi-finals on April 11 at 8:30PM EDT.
- Cade Webber and Boston University captured a pair of 6–3 wins over the Rochester Institute of Technology and then the University of Minnesota. Webber played against Minnesota and recorded a minus-one rating. Boston gets a semi-final matchup with Denver on April 11 at 5:00PM EST.
- Mike Koster and Minnesota snuck by Omaha with a 3–2 win in the first round before falling to Webber and Boston U in the quarter-finals. Koster had a shot on goal and a plus-one rating in the loss. He was one of five Minnesota players with a plus-minus of one or more.
- With Schingoethe and Koster’s seasons now done, only Moldenhauer and Webber are still standing in the NCAA. Best of luck to both in their semis games next week!
OHL
- Easton Cowan and the London Knights have a 3–0 stranglehold over the Flint Firebirds in their first-round series after a thrilling 4–3 overtime win last night. Cowan has been a big factor offensively—with a pair of goals, four points, and 12 shots on goal—through the first three games. Check out his goal from last night:
- Braeden Kressler and the Ottawa 67’s took a 2–1 series lead with their 5–2 win over the Brantford Bulldogs last night. Kressler has contributed three goals on 16 shots on goal. Here’s a look at his snipe in last night’s game:
Russia
- Semyon Der-Arguchintsev is one of two men still standing in Russia, figuratively speaking. Traktor Chelyabinsk is in the third round of the KHL playoffs, facing off against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. They fell 5–2 in the opening game of the series yesterday, with SDA going minus two.
- Nikita Grebyonkin and Metallurg Magnitogorski are on to the third round as well, with game one set to kick off today. Metallurg took 4–2 series wins over Amur Khabarovsk and Spartak Moscow to advance to the third round.
WHL
- We’re now at the mid-point of the first round of the WHL playoffs!
- Brandon Lisowsky, Fraser Minten, and the Saskatoon Blades hold a 2–1 series lead in their first-round matchup against the Prince Albert Raiders. Minten has a pair of assists through the three games, while Lisowsky picked up an assist on last night’s overtime winner.
- Noah Chadwick and the Lethbridge Hurricanes are down 3–0 in their series against the Swift Current Broncos. A tough test indeed! Chadwick—wearing an “A” for the Hurricanes—has just one assist in the series but has 13 shots on goal and is plus-one; he has not had a negative plus-minus rating in this series yet, which is pretty impressive.
NHLe Leaderboard
NHLe is a metric used to estimate a player’s offensive output at the NHL level from their point totals in their respective league. Here are the Leafs’ current top 5 (bracketed numbers denote movement from the previous week):
- Easton Cowan: 47.1 (New)
- Semyon Der-Arguchintsev: 42.2 (New)
- Nikita Grebyonkin: 40.2 (New)
- Pontus Holmberg: 36.3 (New)
- Alex Steeves: 35.1 (New)
Overall regular season totals for Leafs prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Abruzzese | C/LW | 63 | 14 | 31 | 45 | 0.71 | 22 | 28.3 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Easton Cowan | C/W | 54 | 34 | 62 | 96 | 1.78 | 64 | 47.1 | London Knights | OHL |
| Semyon Der-Arguchintsev | C | 53 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 0.64 | 18 | 42.2 | Traktor Chelyabinsk | KHL |
| Max Ellis | RW | 35 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0.37 | 12 | 14.7 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Nikita Grebyonkin | LW/RW | 67 | 19 | 22 | 41 | 0.61 | 17 | 40.2 | Metallurg Magnitogorski | KHL |
| Roni Hirvonen | W | 28 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0.29 | 6 | 11.6 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Pontus Holmberg | C/LW | 11 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 0.91 | 4 | 36.3 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Braeden Kressler | C | 65 | 28 | 46 | 74 | 1.14 | 34 | 30.2 | Flint Firebirds/Ottawa 67s | OHL |
| Brandon Lisowsky | LW | 68 | 42 | 38 | 80 | 1.18 | 40 | 29.2 | Saskatoon Blades | WHL |
| Hudson Malinoski | C | 35 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 0.51 | 29 | 16.4 | Providence College | NCAA |
| Veeti Miettinen | RW | 37 | 20 | 15 | 35 | 0.95 | 0 | 34.2 | St. Cloud State | NCAA |
| Joe Miller | C | 32 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 0.84 | 8 | 19.3 | Harvard University | NCAA |
| Fraser Minten | C | 43 | 22 | 26 | 48 | 1.12 | 25 | 27.7 | Kamloops Blazers/Saskatoon Blades | WHL |
| Nicholas Moldenhauer | C/RW | 40 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 0.53 | 2 | 14.5 | University of Michigan | NCAA |
| Jacob Quillan | C | 39 | 17 | 29 | 46 | 1.18 | 16 | 27.1 | Quinnipiac University | NCAA |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Toronto Marlies | AHL | ||
| Wyatt Schingoethe | C | 24 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0.17 | 2 | 6.1 | Western Michigan University | NCAA |
| Kirill Slepets | C/W | 53 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 0.36 | 8 | 23.7 | Amur Khabarovsk | KHL |
| Alex Steeves | F | 57 | 22 | 28 | 50 | 0.88 | 20 | 35.1 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Ryan Tverberg | C/RW | 46 | 9 | 23 | 32 | 0.70 | 18 | 27.9 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Ty Voit | W/C | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1.60 | 0 | N/A | Newfoundland Growlers | ECHL |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noah Chadwick | LHD | 66 | 12 | 44 | 56 | 0.85 | 24 | 21.0 | Lethbridge Hurricanes | WHL |
| John Fusco | RHD | 32 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 0.53 | 19 | 12.2 | Dartmouth College | NCAA |
| Mikko Kokkonen | LHD | 57 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0.28 | 26 | 11.2 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Mike Koster | LHD | 33 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 0.42 | 4 | 11.5 | University of Minnesota | NCAA |
| Topi Niemela | RHD | 60 | 7 | 28 | 35 | 0.58 | 36 | 23.1 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| William Villeneuve | RHD | 50 | 2 | 22 | 24 | 0.48 | 37 | 19.1 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Cade Webber | LHD | 37 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0.16 | 30 | 5.2 | Boston University | NCAA |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artur Akhtyamov | G | 19 | 2.00 | 0.927 | Neftyanik Almetievsk | VHL |
| 17 | 2.51 | 0.921 | Ak Bars Kazan | KHL | ||
| Dennis Hildeby | G | 36 | 2.48 | 0.908 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
| Vyacheslav Peksa | G | 19 | 3.71 | 0.890 | Newfoundland Growlers | ECHL |
| Keith Petruzzelli | G | 17 | 3.55 | 0.867 | Toronto Marlies | AHL |
Following the prospects
Staying up to date with the development of prospects is no easy task. Follow along throughout the season for the latest happenings in the entire Leafs’ development pipelines!
