<p>First, it was Nikita Grebenkin. Now it&#8217;s Sam McCue.</p>
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<p>What do these two players have in common, you may ask? Simply put, they&#8217;re both late-round draft picks who didn&#8217;t waste a lot of time introducing themselves to the fans of their new team. Grebenkin has managed to parlay his post-draft success into some reps with the Maple Leafs after signing his entry-level contract, and although McCue will need to keep his foot on the gas to follow the same process, he&#8217;s off to an excellent start.</p>
<p>McCue, younger brother of London Knights prospect Max McCue, was selected by the Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the most recent draft, hearing his name called at 216th overall. He was a little older than the majority of prospects in his draft class, celebrating his 19th birthday in early October, but turned heads with his aggressive style of play and goal-scoring touch in his draft year, finishing the 2023-24 season with 12 goals and 21 points in 34 games for the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL. He started off the 2024-25 season blistering hot, scoring 18 goals and registering 31 points in 35 games for the Attack before he was traded to the Flint Firebirds in early January. Since then, he&#8217;s only gotten hotter, with eight goals and 13 points in nine games since the trade. He&#8217;s currently riding a seven-game point streak, with five points in his last three games including a hat trick on January 30 against the Windsor Spitfires.</p>
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgysfbnfik2j" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreicssyy2kt4tjg3ll3gn2b3ux6a6kuemcybue43z5xmtdxl254zjha">
<p lang="en">#Leafs prospect Sam McCue takes the feed on a 2 on 1 and buries it for his 23rd goal of the season, then pulls at his jersey and sasses at someone in the crowd lol</p>
<p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lgysfbnfik2j?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a></p>
<p>— Nikita GREAT-byonkin (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz?ref_src=embed">@brigstew.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lgysfbnfik2j?ref_src=embed">January 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Standing at 6-foot-2 and 191 pounds, McCue fits the mould of energy-first power forward types that the Maple Leafs have grown fond of in recent years. We saw firsthand how Matthew Knies was able to emerge as a top prospect and quickly into a top secondary contributor for the Leafs despite not having ground-breaking stats in his draft year, and we saw a similar trajectory from Grebenkin, who only had one strong Russian junior year under his belt when the Leafs drafted him. It&#8217;s clear that they&#8217;ve prioritized a combination of size and skill in recent drafts, and if McCue wants a good reference point for players to follow, Knies would be an excellent place to start.</p>
<p>With that being said, let&#8217;s check in on some of the other prospects in the Leafs&#8217; system and see how they fared over the past week.</p>
<ul>
<li>At this point, we may as well just have a weekly Easton Cowan tracker separate from the rest of the prospect roundups. The Maple Leafs&#8217; 2023 first-round pick has continued to put his forgettable World Juniors in the rearview mirror, continuing his absurd regular-season point streak and getting it up to 64 straight games on Sunday. He tallied an assist on the power play in a 4-3 loss to the Windsor Spitfires, bringing him up to 17 goals and 38 points in 28 games. He&#8217;s not quite producing at the same pace he did last season, but as we all know too well, offensive production is not the sole determining factor on whether an OHL prospect is ready for the NHL. Cowan didn&#8217;t look quite ready for NHL action in training camp, so sending him back was the right call. He will be in legitimate contention for a roster spot next season if he can round out his defensive game and tailor it to a higher level of competition.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhacgfy4r22j" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreigy7bpzsnpy2slfxi3oqagfmb6ntfbhgxjl3gz42zt4yo3keqccnq">
<p lang="en">#Leafs prospect Easton Cowan with the primary assist on the powerplay to extend his regular season point streak to 64 games.</p>
<p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lhacgfy4r22j?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a></p>
<p>— Nikita GREAT-byonkin (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz?ref_src=embed">@brigstew.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lhacgfy4r22j?ref_src=embed">February 2, 2025 at 7:37 PM</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<ul>
<li>Defenceman Noah Chadwick tallied two assists in three games last week, bringing his season totals up to 37 points in 46 games so far. The Maple Leafs&#8217; second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft has taken a massive step forward offensively, going from 20 points in his draft year to 56 the following year, and considering sound defensive play is his strong suit, this late boost of offence is showing that there may be more to Chadwick&#8217;s game than what was advertised at the start. Expect the 6-foot-4 defender to sign his entry-level contract this offseason and take his talents to the Toronto Marlies.</li>
<li>Hudson Malinoski, drafted in the fifth round of the same draft class as Chadwick, is already only three points off of his freshman year total with Providence College. He has seven goals and 15 points in 24 games so far this season, on pace to blow past his final total of 18 points in 35 games last season. The fact that Malinoski is playing hockey at all at this stage of his life let alone continuing to improve is admirable in itself. If you don&#8217;t know Malinoski&#8217;s story and the adversity he battled to get to where he is, it&#8217;s a story that&#8217;s always <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/on-easton-cowan-david-kampf-ryan-reaves-and-more-leafs-morning-take">worth checking out</a>.</li>
<li>Alex Steeves and Nick Abruzzese led the way for the Marlies over a 2-2-0 week, tallying three and four points, respectively. Steeves is on pace to become one of the best Toronto Marlies ever, which may not have been on his bingo card when he signed with the Leafs, but it&#8217;s a cool nugget for his resume. He also took part in the AHL All Star Classic this past weekend and showed some elite net-front ability.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Alex Steeves = 🧍‍♂️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AHLAllStar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AHLAllStar</a>🌟💫 | <a href="https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TorontoMarlies</a> <a href="https://t.co/kOaBfqnfru">pic.twitter.com/kOaBfqnfru</a></p>
<p>&mdash; American Hockey League (@TheAHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/1886276513701490820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<ul>
<li>Dennis Hildeby may not have done himself any favours with a rocky stint in the NHL a week and a bit ago, but he&#8217;s won five straight AHL games and also impressed at the AHL All-Star Classic with his teammate.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">DENNIS THE MENACE 🙅 <a href="https://t.co/GIcC1MVP8l">pic.twitter.com/GIcC1MVP8l</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) <a href="https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/1886247977507013082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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First, it was Nikita Grebenkin. Now it's Sam McCue.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
What do these two players have in common, you may ask? Simply put, they're both late-round draft picks who didn't waste a lot of time introducing themselves to the fans of their new team. Grebenkin has managed to parlay his post-draft success into some reps with the Maple Leafs after signing his entry-level contract, and although McCue will need to keep his foot on the gas to follow the same process, he's off to an excellent start.

McCue, younger brother of London Knights prospect Max McCue, was selected by the Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the most recent draft, hearing his name called at 216th overall. He was a little older than the majority of prospects in his draft class, celebrating his 19th birthday in early October, but turned heads with his aggressive style of play and goal-scoring touch in his draft year, finishing the 2023-24 season with 12 goals and 21 points in 34 games for the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL. He started off the 2024-25 season blistering hot, scoring 18 goals and registering 31 points in 35 games for the Attack before he was traded to the Flint Firebirds in early January. Since then, he's only gotten hotter, with eight goals and 13 points in nine games since the trade. He's currently riding a seven-game point streak, with five points in his last three games including a hat trick on January 30 against the Windsor Spitfires.
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgysfbnfik2j" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreicssyy2kt4tjg3ll3gn2b3ux6a6kuemcybue43z5xmtdxl254zjha">
<p lang="en">#Leafs prospect Sam McCue takes the feed on a 2 on 1 and buries it for his 23rd goal of the season, then pulls at his jersey and sasses at someone in the crowd lol</p>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lgysfbnfik2j?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a>

— Nikita GREAT-byonkin (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz?ref_src=embed">@brigstew.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lgysfbnfik2j?ref_src=embed">January 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Standing at 6-foot-2 and 191 pounds, McCue fits the mould of energy-first power forward types that the Maple Leafs have grown fond of in recent years. We saw firsthand how Matthew Knies was able to emerge as a top prospect and quickly into a top secondary contributor for the Leafs despite not having ground-breaking stats in his draft year, and we saw a similar trajectory from Grebenkin, who only had one strong Russian junior year under his belt when the Leafs drafted him. It's clear that they've prioritized a combination of size and skill in recent drafts, and if McCue wants a good reference point for players to follow, Knies would be an excellent place to start.

With that being said, let's check in on some of the other prospects in the Leafs' system and see how they fared over the past week.
<ul>
 	<li>At this point, we may as well just have a weekly Easton Cowan tracker separate from the rest of the prospect roundups. The Maple Leafs' 2023 first-round pick has continued to put his forgettable World Juniors in the rearview mirror, continuing his absurd regular-season point streak and getting it up to 64 straight games on Sunday. He tallied an assist on the power play in a 4-3 loss to the Windsor Spitfires, bringing him up to 17 goals and 38 points in 28 games. He's not quite producing at the same pace he did last season, but as we all know too well, offensive production is not the sole determining factor on whether an OHL prospect is ready for the NHL. Cowan didn't look quite ready for NHL action in training camp, so sending him back was the right call. He will be in legitimate contention for a roster spot next season if he can round out his defensive game and tailor it to a higher level of competition.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhacgfy4r22j" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreigy7bpzsnpy2slfxi3oqagfmb6ntfbhgxjl3gz42zt4yo3keqccnq">
<p lang="en">#Leafs prospect Easton Cowan with the primary assist on the powerplay to extend his regular season point streak to 64 games.</p>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lhacgfy4r22j?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a>

— Nikita GREAT-byonkin (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz?ref_src=embed">@brigstew.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h6xjndnh6l6sdkll3m4dhwqz/post/3lhacgfy4r22j?ref_src=embed">February 2, 2025 at 7:37 PM</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<ul>
 	<li>Defenceman Noah Chadwick tallied two assists in three games last week, bringing his season totals up to 37 points in 46 games so far. The Maple Leafs' second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft has taken a massive step forward offensively, going from 20 points in his draft year to 56 the following year, and considering sound defensive play is his strong suit, this late boost of offence is showing that there may be more to Chadwick's game than what was advertised at the start. Expect the 6-foot-4 defender to sign his entry-level contract this offseason and take his talents to the Toronto Marlies.</li>
 	<li>Hudson Malinoski, drafted in the fifth round of the same draft class as Chadwick, is already only three points off of his freshman year total with Providence College. He has seven goals and 15 points in 24 games so far this season, on pace to blow past his final total of 18 points in 35 games last season. The fact that Malinoski is playing hockey at all at this stage of his life let alone continuing to improve is admirable in itself. If you don't know Malinoski's story and the adversity he battled to get to where he is, it's a story that's always <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/on-easton-cowan-david-kampf-ryan-reaves-and-more-leafs-morning-take">worth checking out</a>.</li>
 	<li>Alex Steeves and Nick Abruzzese led the way for the Marlies over a 2-2-0 week, tallying three and four points, respectively. Steeves is on pace to become one of the best Toronto Marlies ever, which may not have been on his bingo card when he signed with the Leafs, but it's a cool nugget for his resume. He also took part in the AHL All Star Classic this past weekend and showed some elite net-front ability.</li>
</ul>
https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/1886276513701490820
<ul>
 	<li>Dennis Hildeby may not have done himself any favours with a rocky stint in the NHL a week and a bit ago, but he's won five straight AHL games and also impressed at the AHL All-Star Classic with his teammate.</li>
</ul>
https://twitter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/1886247977507013082

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