Where are the gaps in the Maple Leafs’ prospect pool heading into 2025-26?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the weaker prospect pools in the league, which is pretty standard for a team that’s made the playoffs for nine straight years and have routinely looked to buy at the trade deadline rather than sell off pieces. The past year especially has hit the organization’s prospect pool pretty hard, with the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline seeing a pair of top prospects be shipped out in deals. Fraser Minten, who was their second-best prospect heading into last season, found himself dealt to the Boston Bruins in exchange for defenceman Brandon Carlo, and Nikita Grebenkin, a top-10 prospect who established himself as a fan favourite early in his career, was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in a package for forward Scott Laughton.

While the addition of Easton Cowan in 2023 gave them a new shiny toy and the selection of Ben Danford in 2024 gave them a unique type of defenceman they lacked, the Leafs’ prospect pool could use some reinforcements, specifically on defence. After Danford, the Maple Leafs’ farm system on the back end is pretty thin. Topi Niemela recently signed a one-year contract to spend next season in Sweden, and while the Maple Leafs still have his rights for a few more years, he didn’t take as much of a step forward as the organization was hoping for in 2025-26 and his future with the team remains unclear. If he takes a significant step forward playing overseas, it’s possible the Leafs bring him back and sign him to a new contract. But, even then, it will depend on whether Niemela has interest in returning to North America.

Noah Chadwick has taken a big step forward since the Maple Leafs drafted him in 2023, specifically on the offensive side of the puck. His defensive game and size were his two calling cards when he was drafted, but he doubled his point total in 2023-24 and came close to repeating those numbers in 2024-25. With seven goals and 14 points in 16 playoff games, he ended his junior career on a positive note and will have a legitimate opportunity to take on some meaningful minutes with the Toronto Marlies as he kicks off his official rookie season.

After Chadwick, the next two best defensive prospects are William Villeneuve and Victor Johansson. The former was a fourth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2020 and had a breakout season in his third go with the Marlies last season, notching 40 points in 55 games. He also has the benefit of being right-handed, which should give him an advantage over certain players (including Chadwick) should the team suffer any injuries on the back end. Johnasson, meanwhile, was a bit of a wildcard when he was selected. Nobody really knew who he was, but his size scared fans off initially (specifically his weight, standing at 6-foot-1 and only 158 pounds) and the fact that he wasn’t ranked by any professional scouts only added to the skepticism. He must have caught wind of this, because he took a significant step forward in 2024-25 with 39 points in 47 games in Sweden’s junior league. Like Chadwick, he was drafted for his defensive awareness, but after incorporating both offensive prowess and his mean streak, keep an eye on him going forward.

After that, it gets bleak on the back end. The next-biggest gap in the prospect pool is on the wing. After Cowan, the Leafs’ best winger prospects are Ryan Tverberg, William Belle, and Nick Moldenhauer. All three of these players project to be bottom-six forwards should they crack the NHL, so the lack of a winger with some offensive spark to their game is something the team will look to address in next year’s draft. You can include 2025 second-round pick Tinus-Luc Koblar in this group, if you want, as he plays all three forward positions, but with his size it’s likelier the team will want to use him as a centre.

After that, the Leafs have taken two positions of weakness and turned them into positions of strength (or, realistically, positions of less weakness). Up the middle of the ice, they’ve got Koblar, 2025 third-round pick Tyler Hopkins, who plays a game very similar to that of Fraser Minten, and they also have a pair of NCAA gambles in Jacob Quillan and Luke Haymes. In net, they’ve got Dennis Hildeby, who’s already played a decent amount of NHL games, and behind him, they’ve got Artur Akhtyamov, who posted respectable numbers in his first AHL season and could be either a trade candidate or a contender to get some starts next season depending on what happens with Anthony Stolarz.

So, that’s the lay of the land. If you were too busy to read everything above, the gist of everything is that the Leafs are weak on defence and on the wing, with a little extra depth up the middle and in net. It will be interesting to see what the state of the prospect pool is this time next year, but of course, all of that will be affected by how the Leafs play this season and how much of a swing they’re willing to take at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.