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Max Schulte/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Whatever Happened to ex-Maple Leafs’ Prospect Jeremy Bracco?

Originally posted on NHL Trade Talk | By Old Prof | Last updated Dec 25, 2025 12:50 PM ET

Jeremy Bracco has always stuck with me. Not because he failed, exactly — but because he never quite fit the easy boxes we like to put prospects in. When I first wrote about him, he felt like one of those players you quietly root for. Skilled, creative, worked hard enough, but always standing in a long line behind someone better.

And in Toronto, that line can feel endless. It sure was for Bracco.

Bracco Never Got a Chance with the Maple Leafs

Surprisingly, Bracco never got a single NHL shift with the Maple Leafs. In 2018-19, he scored 22 goals and added 57 assists (for 79 points) in 75 games with the AHL Toronto Marlies. Why a point-a-game player in the AHL never got a single call-up to the Maple Leafs is confusing.

Nothing seemed obvious at the time. Four years down the road, though, his career path feels clearer—even if it didn’t take the turn we wanted. That single season with the Marlies was the highlight: the chance to run plays, find openings, and really lead the offence. It felt like the NHL door was almost there. It never fully opened.

It never fully did. Since that season, his highest goal total was 14, which he reached in both the Deutsche Eishockey League (Germany) and the Kontinental Hockey League (Russia). After scoring 22 in the AHL, that’s all he could muster since.

After That Single AHL Season, Bracco Sort of Slid Out of Sight

The following AHL season with the Marlies told a quieter story. Thirty-four points in 44 games isn’t bad, but it wasn’t momentum either. Some personal absences, some inconsistency, and suddenly, the organization moved on. Toronto didn’t qualify him. Carolina gave him a look, then let him go. That was the end of the NHL conversation.

Since then, Bracco has done what a lot of good hockey players do when the North American path narrows — he kept playing.

Bracco’s World Tour Playing Hockey

Finland first. After 17 points in 24 games with KalPa and a few playoff markers, he moved to Germany. That’s where things really took off: 54 points in 54 games, leading Krefeld. That earned him a KHL contract with Barys, where over parts of two seasons, he put up 40 points in 59 games, took a beating physically, and played heavy minutes on a struggling team.

Since then, his career has turned into a kind of hockey passport. Sochi. Slovakia. Austria. Back to Slovakia. Now in Germany. In the past two seasons alone, he’s suited up for four different clubs, still producing when given power-play time, still leaning on vision and touch rather than speed.

That tells you something about Bracco’s ability to play hockey, wherever he can.

Bracco Is Playing Again in Germany This Season

This season, Bracco is suiting up with the Regensburg Polar Bears in Germany’s second division, the DEL-2. There, he has played 12 games, scoring four goals and adding six assists. He didn’t flame out. He didn’t quit. He adjusted. He found leagues where his game made sense, where creativity still mattered, where he could be useful. That’s not failure. That’s survival in a profession with very few chairs.

Looking back, the puzzle pieces line up more clearly now. He was a skilled winger in an organization overloaded with skilled wingers. He needed time, patience, and a role Toronto couldn’t really give him. So he went and built a career elsewhere.

It’s not the one many of us imagined. But it’s a real one. And in this sport, that still counts.

This article first appeared on NHL Trade Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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