2025 NHL Draft: Toronto Maple Leafs picks recap and opinions

It was a busy second day of the 2025 NHL Draft for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Other than a rumoured deal between Toronto and the Vegas Golden Knights involving Mitch Marner, the team made six picks between the second and seventh rounds.

The results seem to be a bit of a mixed bag. Their third-rounder, Tyler Hopkins, was a consensus great pick. Their first pick, Tinus Luc Koblar, was a bit confusing.

Nonetheless, the Leafs have six new prospects. So let’s dig in and recap all of Toronto’s picks from the 2025 NHL Draft.

64th overall: Tinus Luc Koblar—F

With the last pick of the second round, Brad Treliving’s staff was right on brand. Going off the board, Toronto selected a Norwegian-born 6’3” forward.

Luc Koblar has played the last two seasons in Sweden, in their U18 and U20 leagues. His assist totals pop out, with 36 in 65 games across two years. For a big guy, his top speed is pretty good, but his overall skating needs a lot of work.

He projects as a third-to-fourth-line talent who will need to do a lot of growing on the ice to reach the NHL. His size gives him an advantage, but his mediocre production means his ceiling isn’t very high.

For a second-round pick, Luc Koblar seems like a reach. But we’ll have to see what happens in the next few seasons.

86th overall: Tyler Hopkins—C

Easily their best pick of the draft on paper, our prospect expert, Ryan Ma, actually wrote a piece on why the Leafs should target Hopkins with the 64th pick.

Hopkins is a very projectable prospect. He can skate, and he’s extremely smart, which means he’s always in the right spot, especially defensively. He’s featured on Kingston’s top PK unit and is heavily relied upon.

On offence, there’s still room to grow. But with his IQ, it’s not hard to imagine him becoming a decent producer even at higher levels.

He seems like a pretty good Fraser Minten replacement.

137th overall: William Belle—F

Another on-brand pick, Belle is a 6’4” forward who barely scores in the USHL.

Committed to Notre Dame for next year, Belle will need to put all his tools together to make it work. His speed is again good for his size, something the Leafs clearly look for, but his lack of production and iffy offensive tape mean he might not reach great heights.

For a power forward, his size and motor work well. The difference maker will obviously be his scoring talent, where he’ll need to improve a ton.

153rd overall: Harry Nansi—F

One of the biggest “dawgs” of the draft, Nansi was also one of the youngest guys taken.

He’s relentless, elite at winning board battles and hounding defencemen. He’s also got great hands and can playmake, meaning his ceiling is extremely high for a 153rd overall pick.

Nansi’s skating needs a lot of work, and it will be the difference in his career. If he can improve his stride, there’s a real player here.

For a fifth-rounder, he’s a perfect gamble. A young, offensively gifted forward who stands at 6’3” has all the makings of a good NHLer. We’ll see how far his skating takes him, but Nansi is a name to watch.

185th overall: Rylan Fellinger—RD

Another mammoth, Fellinger is a 6’4” defenceman who moves pretty well. He doesn’t produce, scoring 11 points in 122 games on Flint in the OHL over the last two seasons, but his size and skating are typical of a Treliving pick.

He’ll be back in the OHL next year, and will need to greatly improve his puck movement and offensive game to make a name for himself in the Leafs system.

217th overall: Matthew Hlacar—F

Hlacar is, you guessed it, another 6’3” forward who doesn’t really produce.

In his first OHL season last year, he scored seven goals and eight points in 43 games. As an overager, there’s not much to love about this pick. His ceiling isn’t high, and he’s not really a gamble. He’s just a big guy who fits the mould of a Treliving prospect.

He is an Ontarian, meaning he might have the passion, but the chances of seeing anything from Hlacar are low. But who knows?

Hit and miss

Yesterday’s draft followed a lot of the beats we expected from Toronto. A ton of size, high IQ, and not much ceiling.

One thing to note, though, is how many Ontario-born players the Leafs took. This is a new strategy from the Treliving regime, and something that could definitely help in the long run. 

Hopkins is the standout, but there are multiple names who may see themselves in a Leafs top 10 prospect list sooner rather than later. Only time will tell how the 2025 draft class turns out, but as of now, it seems just okay.