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Why the Maple Leafs should pursue Rūdolfs Bērzkalns with 3rd-round pick
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Photo credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Michael Coyle
Jun 20, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 20, 2026, 10:26 EDT
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While the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to gain a franchise player with the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, the selections that follow are often the ones that can define a successful cohort or not. With the Maple Leafs selecting 69th and 85th overall, Rũdolfs Bērzkalns from the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League could be a perfect pick at No. 69 when the Maple Leafs are on the clock.
Bērzkalns is listed at 6-foot-4, 204 pounds, and his size clearly helped allow him to succeed during his second campaign with the Lumberjacks. The 18-year-old appeared in 48 games, recording 13 goals and 12 assists, along with a plus-seven rating. Bērzkalns took a leap offensively, previously recording eight points in his first season with the Lumberjacks. 
During the season in which the Lumberjacks finished fifth in the USHL Eastern Conference, Bērzkalns placed eighth on the club in points, but during the Lumberjacks’ run to the Clark Cup Final, in which they ultimately fell to the Sioux Falls Stampede, Bērzkalns took his play to a new level. Through 16 playoff games, Bērzkalns picked up four goals and six assists, good for the fifth most points among Lumberjacks skaters, which was a strong showing as the lower-seeded team in three of the four series they played in. 
Here’s what Daily Faceoff prospect expert wrote about Bērzkalns during his May draft rankings: 
Bērzkalns helped get Muskegon to the USHL playoffs, taking on an even more important role once Tynan Lawrence left for college. The Boston College commit is a big, 6-foot-4 center who played some good two-way hockey at the World Juniors. He isn’t flashy and likely won’t be a big-time producer in the NHL, but he plays with a ton of muscle and took over shifts in ways very few bigger forwards were capable of this year in the USHL. I like him as a fourth-line forward – I think he understands the defensive game well enough to be a solid player.
Bērzkalns is also no stranger to playing against the level of competition during the World Junior Championship tournament. Bērzkalns has represented his home country of Latvia in the past two tournaments, first at the 2025 edition in Ottawa, then again at the 2026 tournament in Minnesota. 
In both tournaments, Latvia not only reached the quarterfinals before losing to Sweden but also played highly competitive games against Canada, beating them in 2025 before losing in overtime in 2026. Trailing Canada 1-0 with just under two minutes to play in the third period, Bērzkalns scored against Canada to force overtime in what he called one of the biggest moments of his career. 
“It was a great experience, a super cool moment for me,” Bērzkalns said during an interview in February following the World Juniors. “It was the biggest goal I’ve scored in my life so far and helped my team out.”
With Gavin McKenna likely to be selected at number one, adding Bērzkalns at 69 would only build on a strong young forward core that already consists of Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan. With centre depth so sparse in the Maple Leafs’ organization and difficult to find across the NHL, getting a player of Bērzkalns’ calibre would be a win for John Chayka during his first draft running the Maple Leafs. 

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