Today is August 1st, which means it’s time to pack up for the home stretch of summer and revert our attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs farm system. Every year at The Leafs Nation, our panel of writers puts together our own personal top-20 rankings and then we combine our lists to create one big ranking with our site name behind it. We’re going to kick things off on August 4 with our 20th-ranked prospect and publish one per day until we reach the #1 prospect in our rankings, and there will be filler content in between regarding unsigned prospects, AHL players who could impress, strength of the prospect pool compared to other teams, etc.

It would be disingenuous to go into a prospect ranking series without giving you some context in terms of how we landed on the 20 players who made the cut, so to kick off the series, we’ll go down the list of eligible players, graduating players, and those who received no votes from our team. Let’s kick things off by looking at our list of eligible players for this offseason’s master list.

Alexander Plesovskikh
Artur Akhtyamov
Ben Danford
Blake Smith
Borya Valis
Braeden Kressler
Cade Webber
Dennis Hildeby
Easton Cowan
Harry Nansi
Hudson Malinoski
Jacob Quillan
Joe Miller
John Fusco
John Prokop
Luke Haymes
Matthew Hlacar
Matthew Lahey
Miroslav Holinka
Nathan Mayes
Nick Moldenhauer
Noah Chadwick
Roni Hirvonen
Ryan Tverberg
Rylan Fellinger
Sam McCue
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev
Semyon Kizimov
Timofei Obvintsev
Tinus-Luc Koblar
Topi Niemelä
Tyler Hopkins
Victor Johansson
Vyacheslav Peksa
William Belle
William Villeneuve
Wyatt Schingoethe

37 eligible prospects is up from the 33 we had last season, but the strength of the pool is up in the air. It’s worth noting that two top prospects from last season are now in different uniforms, with Fraser Minten being shipped to the Boston Bruins in the trade for defenceman Brandon Carlo, and Nikita Grebenkin being dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Scott Laughton trade. Alex Steeves and Nick Abruzzese, who were also on last season’s list, have left for greener pastures (Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively) and other prospects didn’t have their rights renewed (Ty Voit and Mikko Kokkonen).

In terms of the process, the writers who contributed to these rankings include myself, managing editor Arun Srinivasan, contributors Michael Mazzei, Jon Steitzer, and Filipe Dimas, as well as our two prospect gurus, Nick Richard and Steven Ellis. As stated earlier, we each compiled a personal top-20 rankings and combined them all using the median of where each player was ranked by each writer, with the highest individual ranking as a tiebreaker.

A no-vote doesn’t mean there’s no hope for these prospects to make the NHL. As Steitzer pointed out in last season’s edition of this piece, Pierre Engvall was a consistent no-vote on people’s rankings, essentially until he made the NHL. I can guarantee that nobody had Bobby McMann as a top prospect when he was grinding it out in the ECHL and AHL, but now he can say he’s a 20-goal scorer in the NHL. Different writers like different prospects more than others do, so it’s just a matter of who the group as a whole feels has shown enough to warrant a spot on the list. Late bloomers exist, though!

Here are the ten players who didn’t receive any votes from our writers.

Kressler is somebody who feels like he’s been floating outside of the rankings for years now. The Leafs brought him in on an entry-level contract prior to the 2021-22 season, but he’s partially fallen victim to the depth the Marlies had last season. He was nearly a point-per-game player in the ECHL in 2024-25, but that’s not enough to get a spot in the top 20.

Fusco just wrapped up his fourth NCAA season and his third at Dartmouth College. He had a solid senior year, putting up 21 points in 32 games as a defenceman, but between his age and size, it doesn’t feel like the Leafs are going to offer him a contract before his rights expire on August 15.

The selection of Hlacar sort of felt like when you’re doing a franchise mode in NHL 25 and figure you’ll have some fun with the lack of quality names available, and decide to use one of your last picks on a goon. Hlacar is a year older than the rest of his draft class and had a reputation as being an enforcer for the Kitchener Rangers, but with only eight goals in 43 games, it will be an uphill path to getting into the top-20.

Lahey has everything the Brad Treliving regime looks for in a defenceman, if you stop at size, physicality, and defensive ability. He doesn’t have much of an offensive game, and his numbers didn’t really improve in his transition to the USHL from the BCHL, a junior-A league in Western Canada that he was playing for when drafted. Like Hlacar, he’ll have an uphill path to get into the top-20.

It’s been an unfortunate fall from grace for Hirvonen, who was once a top-10 prospect for the Maple Leafs. But, a combination of on-ice inconsistency and injuries led to him signing a one-year contract to play overseas in 2025-26. The Maple Leafs technically have his rights still, but because he wasn’t drafted by the current regime, it feels unlikely he’ll be brought back at any point unless he has a serious breakout overseas.

Fellinger, like Lahey, is a big, strong defenceman with good defensive instincts and not much to offer from the offensive side of the game. He only had seven points last season, but he’s still young and has lots of time to improve that side of his game and maybe give him a shot at the top-20 next season.

Der-Arguchintsev appeared in one game for the Maple Leafs in 2022-23 and had a solid AHL campaign that season, but after spending the following two seasons in Russia, there wasn’t much reason to believe he’d work his way back into the top-20.

Like his fellow Semyon, Kizimov has found some success in the KHL, and considering he doesn’t have a smooth path to making the NHL, it’s more likely he stays in Russia for the foreseeable future, perhaps for the rest of his career. Although, his production in the form of 25 points in 44 games shows that there’s been improvement.

The Leafs love to pad their goaltending depth, and with Artur Akhtyamov and Vyachselav Peksa both in the system, they seem to like to dip their feet into the Russian pool. While both of the latter goaltenders had impressive post-draft seasons that got them entry-level contracts, Obvintsev took a step back in Russia’s junior leagues last season, so there wasn’t any justification for having him on the list.

Schingoethe, like Fusco, will see his rights expire on August 15, and with only 11 points in 31 games last season, it doesn’t seem likely the Leafs will bring him back. If the team isn’t willing to re-sign him, there’s simply no reason to have him in the rankings.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when we’ll bring you our list of honourable mentions courtesy of Jon Steitzer.

Love baseball? Don’t miss The 6ix Inning Stretch — the brand new podcast from The Nation Network, presented by Betway. Hosted by Toronto sports reporter Lindsay Dunn and 3-time MLB All-Star Whit Merrifield, this weekly show delivers insider stories, unfiltered Jays talk, player interviews, and expert analysis from around the majors. New episodes drop every Wednesday — listen on your favourite podcast platform or watch on the Bluejaysnation YouTube channel.