Maple Leafs prospect checkpoint: How has Tyler Hopkins fared through 5 months of 2025-26?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are continuing to try and fill the prospect pool after years of drafting later in rounds and trading picks away, after reaching the playoffs for the past nine years. In the past three drafts, the Maple Leafs have only made five player selections in the fourth round or higher. 

One of those selections was 2025 third-round pick Tyler Hopkins. Hopkins is currently in his third season in the Ontario Hockey League, now as a member of the Guelph Storm. In December, the Storm acquired the 19-year-old from the Kingston Frontenacs in exchange for forward Alex McLean and four upcoming draft picks. 

In three seasons, Hopkins has skated in 170 OHL games, posting 42 goals and 57 assists to go with a plus-minus rating of minus-26. At the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign, Hopkins was named one of the four Frontenacs assistant captains, showcasing the growth and maturity in Hopkins’ game. Upon arrival in Guelph, Hopkins has continued to don the “A” on his jersey. In 2024-25, the year prior to Hopkins being selected, the forward posted a career high in points with 51, scoring 20 goals and adding 31 assists. 

Through 44 games played this season with both the Frontenacs and Storm, Hopkins has recorded 16 goals and 19 assists. Since the trade, Hopkins has skated in 15 games with the Storm and has totalled four goals and six assists as the Storm look to hunt down a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Storm find themselves in sixth place with 19 games to go in the regular season, holding a eight-point lead on the Sarnia Sting, who sit outside the playoff picture.  

Hopkins finds himself second among all Storm players for points on the season with 35, trailing only Ethan Miedema, who has recorded 39, in five more games played. Hopkins is projected to finish in the 50-point range for the second straight season, a welcoming sign for Maple Leafs fans. 

After being touted as a strong two-way player by Daily Faceoff prospect expert Steven Ellis, back-to-back seasons of 50-plus points are exactly the type of production Ellis hoped would follow him beyond the draft selection.

The Leafs traded away Fraser Minten at the trade deadline, so Hopkins could be a decent – albeit lesser – replacement. In Kingston, he’s a smart, two-way center whom you can rely on in the D-zone. Hopkins will only really be a support player in the NHL but his two-way game makes him very useful. I want to see him evolve more as a dynamic playmaker, but I like where his game is right now.

Listed at 6-foot-1, 186 pounds, Hopkins will need to continue to fill out for when the time comes to turn pro and take his talents to the American Hockey League to play with the Toronto Marlies. A return to the OHL for an overage season would make sense for Hopkins before turning professional and seeing action with the Marlies at the end of next season. 

Still a couple of seasons away from being on the Maple Leafs’ radar as being a player that can help the team, Hopkins’ two-way game and penalty killing ability could help the forward carve out a role on the Maple Leafs bottom six forward group down the road.