Welcome back to another edition of the Maple Leafs Prospect Roundup here at The Leafs Nation! Our weekly series keeping you up to date on the latest with the Leafs’ prospect pool is winding down for another season, but there’s still some meat left on the bone with a handful of participants in the CHL playoffs, the AHL postseason right around the corner, a couple of European prospects still in action, and another undrafted free agent signing.

Let’s get to it.

The London Knights look like they’re on another march to the OHL finals, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Cowan has been a huge part of their success. After putting up nine points in a four-game sweep of the Owen Sound Attack in round one, he hit the ground running in the Knights’ second round matchup against the Erie Otters, registering four assists in a 6-3 win to open the series, and following that up with two goals and an assist in a 7-2 victory in game two. Cowan put up 34 points in 18 postseason games a year ago to earn playoff MVP honours, and he’s well on his way to surpassing those gaudy numbers this spring.

Danford’s Oshawa Generals made it all the way to the OHL finals last season before ultimately falling to Cowan and the Knights, but they’re in tough to make it back there this spring. The Generals handled their business against Brampton in the opening round, with Danford tallying a goal and an assist while playing heavy minutes against the Steelheads’ best players, but they’re already in a 2-0 hole against the Brantford Bulldogs in the second round. Neither game has been particularly close, and the Bulldogs have had their way offensively, already with 13 goals on the board through the first two games of the series. In order for the Generals to turn it around and mount a comeback, they’ll have to tighten things up defensively, and Danford will be front and centre in that pursuit.

Chadwick has had a great start to the WHL playoffs, scoring the game-winning goal in the series-clinching game during the first round, and he’s picked up right where he left off to begin the second round against the Calgary Hitmen. He had a goal and an assist to help lead the Hurricanes to a 4-0 win in game one, and he added another pair of assists in a 2-1 game two victory, giving him six points in his last three games and nine in seven playoff games so far. Chadwick is expected to join the Marlies’ roster whenever Lethbridge’s run comes to an end, but with the way he’s leading the charge from the back end, their run might be just getting started.

Mayes was surprisingly productive from the blue line in Spokane’s round one victory over the Vancouver Giants, and though he didn’t get on the board in the Chiefs’ thrilling double-overtime win to begin the second round, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. The bruising blueliner launched a season-high seven shots on goal in game one against Victoria and was tasked with an even heavier workload than usual in a contest that lasted more than 90 minutes.

It was another hot and cold weekend for Hildeby and the Marlies. The towering netminder was nearly perfect in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Cleveland, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced, but perhaps too much was put on his plate as he was tasked with starting once again in Sunday’s rematch. Hildeby allowed five goals on 36 shots in regulation and overtime, then came up short in the shootout with the Marlies dropping a point to Cleveland. Hildeby’s 2.65 GAA and .904 SV% on the season don’t come close to matching the numbers that veteran Matt Murray has posted this year, but it still looks like Hildeby will be given the first look between the pipes during the playoffs.

It has been a disappointing second AHL season for Niemelä, and his future in the organization appears tenuous at best, but he got back in the goal column over the weekend. After posting eight goals and 31 assists in his rookie season with the Marlies, it took Niemelä 54 games to score his first goal this season, but it took just six more before he scored his second of the campaign in Saturday’s win over Cleveland. The Finnish blueliner has found himself a scratch at times on a crowded Marlies blue line, but he should have a leg up for a spot in the playoff lineup where he will hope to rewrite the story of his season.

Quillan is putting the finishing touches on a solid rookie season in the AHL, and he added a couple of points to his totals over the weekend. The undrafted free agent signing out of Qunnipiac notched an assist in Saturday’s 4-1 win, and he scored his 17th goal of the season in Sunday’s shootout loss, bringing him to 34 points in 64 games. Quillan has taken his game to another level over the last couple of months, with 19 of his 34 points coming in the last 29 games, and he is expected to play a prominent role heading into the postseason.

If this season has been a step back for Niemelä, it’s been a significant leap forward for William Villeneuve. He has steadily improved over the years to the point where he has become one of the Marlies’ most important players, and it has led to a career year offensively. Villeneuve’s stat lines from his first two seasons were nearly identical, posting 25 points in 54 games in back-to-back years, and he has crushed those numbers in his third pro season. He scored a goal and added an assist in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Cleveland and tacked on two more assists while going +2 in Sunday’s losing effort, bringing him up to 38 points in 53 games on the season. If the Leafs had a bigger cushion atop the Atlantic division and the cap space to accommodate it, one has to wonder if Villeneuve would have been rewarded with an NHL game down the stretch.

Another new addition to the Leafs’ system, Smith signed a three-year entry level contract with Toronto after his OHL club was eliminated from the playoffs. A teammate of Toronto’s 2024 seventh-rounder Sam McCue with the Flint Firebirds, the Leafs’ scouting staff would have grown familiar with Smith’s steady defensive game over the course of the season, and they clearly liked what they saw. A hulking presence at 6’5″ and 225 pounds, Smith moves well for a big kid, and he showed a bit of offensive ability in his overage year with 10 goals and 22 assists in 64 regular season games.

For more on Smith’s game, be sure to check out this scouting report from Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff and The Leafs Nation:

A holdover from the 2020 draft, Schingoethe wrapped his NCAA career over the weekend with what might have been the best game of his collegiate career. The former seventh-round pick produced just one goal and five assists in 53 games during his first three years at Western Michigan University, but with his team playing for a national title against Boston University over the weekend, it was Schingoethe who opened the scoring. He would go on to add an assist on his club’s only other goal as they were defeated 6-2 in the final game on the NCAA schedule. The Leafs’ exclusive rights to sign Schingoethe, as well as Dartmouth product John Fusco, expire this summer, and at this point, it seems highly unlikely that either player will earn a professional contract with the organization.