Maple Leafs finish 28th in The Athletic’s prospect pool rankings

It’s always worth getting a neutral assessment of your team’s prospect pool prior to the trade deadline, where teams often overvalue their own assets in prospective deals. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler is ranking every NHL’s team prospect pool and you may not be thrilled about where the Maple Leafs ended up.

Toronto ranks 28th for the second consecutive season, with Easton Cowan in a separate tier from the rest of the organization’s prospects. Cowan underperformed at this winter’s World Juniors, but he’s been among the best players in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights and could carve out a permanent role with the Maple Leafs as early as next season.

Here’s part of Wheeler’s scouting report on Cowan:

He plays a fast, clever, determined and consistent 200-foot game, hunting pucks, winning races and then making little skill plays when opportunities or openings in coverage present themselves. He takes or plays pucks into the middle, thrives in give-and-gos playing off his linemate, supports play defensively and can play in a haze/rush but has also shown the ability to use and elevate his linemates. He does a good job holding pucks around sticks at speed. He’s a heart-and-soul guy who I’m confident will take his career as far as it can go. He’ll regularly gain a step on junior defenders and while his effort can sometimes be ineffectively deployed (he’s got work to do on his routes and decisions on and off the puck), he thrives on instinct more often than it burns him. His over-reliance on those instincts will require some coaching in the NHL, though.

Fraser Minten comes in at No. 2, Ben Danford ranks No. 3, while goaltenders Artur Akhtyamov and Dennis Hildeby round out Toronto’s top five.

It’s not where the Maple Leafs want to be, but it certainly speaks to the idea that the team can be aggressive at the trade dealing, with the idea of risking the immediate future for an all-in run towards the Stanley Cup. Cowan is likely untouchable, Minten has played some valuable NHL minutes this season but they’ll have some value going forward. At the same time, this approach is why the Maple Leafs’ prospect pool is relatively barren, in comparison to the rest of the league.