Ranking Prospects 2026-27

[herman]

TLN 19. Landon Sim

A real fassthole here, but limited in on-puck skills. Fortunately for him, gumption goes a long way on a hockey team as he is a responsible checker, an absolute troll to opponents, and has the attitude of a wrecking ball that knows his job.

Unfortunately he is smaller. So it’s like having a Brad Marchand that can’t pass or shoot much in an overrepresented demographic (bottom-6 LW). If he can beef up and really key in on the defensive and fore-checking side of things (PK, F1), he can definitely carve out a niche.

 

[herman]

TLN 18. Juuso Ainasto

It's hard to have an opinion on goaltending prospects, but the profile looks like the what the Leafs like: tall, long, mobile.
The fun part is he is also a trolly fassthole. Imagine Anthony Stolarz but potentially less injury-prone and looks like a tall Max Domi.

should be keyed to the Ainasto segment at 1hr52m

 

[herman]

TLN 17. Cooper Williams
I thought we'd target more centre picks in the draft (RD and Cs have future team/market value)

Cooper Williams bears the profile of some previous Leafs picks: Adam Brooks, Fraser Minten, and more recently Tyler Hopkins. Cerebral, responsible, 2-way centres are always in demand and to pick him in Rd 5 seems like a good bit of luck (some skating to develop, and scoring touch if any).

Red or Blue/Yellow #16

 

[herman]

 

[herman]

TLN 16. Patriks Pulmins
Made a lot of saves on a big stage, so definitely worth a longer look, but still a longer term project.

 

[herman]

PPP is about to launch T25U25; the prelude is a list of all the dudes that their voters left off the 25.

There are a lot of unknowns: influx from a very deep draft list + late season NCAA signings that didn't see playoff time factoring in.

2026 T25U25: Honorable Mentions

You almost made it!

www.pensionplanpuppets.com

2026 T25U25: The Unranked

Only three unranked players out of 39.

www.pensionplanpuppets.com

The fall off list is comprised primarily of late picks, college free agents, overseas goalies, and a couple of long time prospects that are way older now and still obscure in performance. I have no quibbles with these non-selections.

 

[herman]

TLN 15. Borya Valis
As you know, I always have time for scoring RWs that actually shoot right. Valis looked pretty rocky to start the prospect tournament last season, having some difficulty adjusting to the speed of play. His full season with the Marlies was unremarkable and needs to carve out a niche with his toolkit to start separating from the pack of AHL replacement level player. A bit too much of a perimeter player for someone who is as big and fast as he can be.

 

[herman]

PPP 25. Rylan Fellinger
Woohoo RD draft picks! Fellinger leans heavily on the defensive spectrum given his size/reach and feel for the game. The article linked has some great clips of those under heralded plays. I'm envisioning a time when Chris Tanev is retired from playing and has joined the Muzzin/Giordano development squad and coaching up these types of prospects.

TLN/DFO 14. Victor Johansson
I like him; he had been playing underweight for much of his development time prior to getting drafted (medicine side effect) so he's had to develop more of a finesse approach to defending and attacking than a prospect of his height normally would. He needs more playing time at the right level for his development, rather than being bounced around and occasionally overwhelmed. Still a project that probably doesn't come to North America until he's like 24 or something.

 

[herman]

PPP 24. Ryan Tverberg
Kind of surprised he still made it onto the list. He exceeded draft slot expectations, and he's the type of player that's really easy to root for. Unfortunately, he is Nick Robertson without the shot.

TLN/DFO 13. Harry Nansi
Trending positively with some physical maturation and mechanical development. Still a project with quite a ways to go in his skating if he wants to make good use of his hands.

 

[cw]

PPP 24. Ryan Tverberg
Kind of surprised he still made it onto the list. He exceeded draft slot expectations, and he's the type of player that's really easy to root for. Unfortunately, he is Nick Robertson without the shot.

The Leafs have loaded up their bottom six with UFAs/trades which will make it tough for Tverberg or any other Marlie forward beyond Cowan to crack the roster. As he is no longer waivers exempt, waivers (or a bunch of injuries to others) might be his best chance to crack a NHL roster any time soon.
He had good moments with the Marlies. He's likable. I hope the best for him. But I did not feel I was looking at a certain NHLer. Maybe he can gain some ground over the summer with training. He may well clear waivers.

 

[herman]

PPP: 23. Cooper Williams
As mentioned up thread and echoed in the article, the Leafs have had a type for a long time and the system has seen many iterations of this player profile (in various flavours) pass through. Their historical success rate at identifying and developing these players is a bit suspect though.

TLN/DFO: 12. Måns Gudmundsson

Large Swedish RD with underrated offense for a defense-first skater. Slotted into the top pair for their preseason opener.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2087937252416495860

So not just going to pump it down the strong side boards for a default safe play.

 

[Bender]

That's good, man!

 

[herman]

PPP: 22. Patriks Plumins
Weird to see a recently drafted goalie on a PPP T25U25 list at all*, but there were a lot of eyeballs on his U18 WC performance.

TLN/DFO: 11. Zach Olsen
When he was drafted, I semi-joked that we got another Zach Hyman.

“He is such a hard worker,” new Los Angeles Kings prospect and WHL rival Giorgos Pantelas said at the 2026 NHL Draft Combine. “I think he’s one of the most underrated players in this draft class. He’s always given us hell when we were in Saskatoon. He’s always first on pucks, working as hard as he can. He gets that puck in the slot, and if you let him go, it’s in the back of the net. He’s one of those players that I’ve always tried to be aware of when he’s on the ice, because he’s gonna give you as much as he can.”

* probably a function of the prospect pipeline depth, more than Plumins' true goaltending bonafides, which very, very few are equipped to evaluate (and even then...)

 

[herman]

PPP: 21. Landon Sim

TLN 19. Landon Sim

A real fassthole here, but limited in on-puck skills. Fortunately for him, gumption goes a long way on a hockey team as he is a responsible checker, an absolute troll to opponents, and has the attitude of a wrecking ball that knows his job.

Unfortunately he is smaller. So it’s like having a Brad Marchand that can’t pass or shoot much in an overrepresented demographic (bottom-6 LW). If he can beef up and really key in on the defensive and fore-checking side of things (PK, F1), he can definitely carve out a niche.

The PPP article linked is a much deeper, more thoughtful dive than we usually get for an older prospect (22 yo) at rank 21 with evidently limited to no top 6 upside.

Like he's a rat, but I also think he can be more than that.

As Chef Auguste Gausteau says, "Anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great"

TLN/DFO: 10. Luke Haymes

The Leafs have a lot of aircraft carrier D, zippy little LWs, and cerebral Cs that aren't producing at pro. Haymes was signed as part of the latter group out of NCAA free agency, but might settle more into the second group if he progresses higher and give the Leafs a mulligan to correct the mistakes they made with Alex Steeves.

 

[herman]

Corey Pronman released his U23 rankings (by team) and the Leafs placed 12th on his list

Toronto Maple Leafs are No. 12 in NHL Pipeline Rankings for 2026

The Maple Leafs' prospect pool received a massive boost with the addition of Gavin McKenna.

www.nytimes.com

Obviously, scoring the most recent first overall pick holds a significant proportion of that rating.
His rankings within the Leafs org are... interesting lol

 

[Bender]

Corey Pronman released his U23 rankings (by team) and the Leafs placed 12th on his list

Toronto Maple Leafs are No. 12 in NHL Pipeline Rankings for 2026

The Maple Leafs' prospect pool received a massive boost with the addition of Gavin McKenna.

www.nytimes.com

Obviously, scoring the most recent first overall pick holds a significant proportion of that rating.
His rankings within the Leafs org are... interesting lol

I don't know how you put a bunch of players ahead of Cowan and Danford.

 

[herman]

PPP. 20. Yaroslav Fedoseyev
Hard to know much about a very recent 6th round pick, but the Leafs traded 'up' for him, hilariously using the 5th rder from Ottawa for Ersson's rights. If he turns into anything, that'll be quite the red paper clip moment. I like his profile (drafting RD and C for future inflated value) as a two-way defender with good mobility and reach, but he's probably just one of the overseas prospects I just circle back to annually like Alex Plesovskikh (whose name I still can't spell without help).

Fedoseyev attended the Leafs development camp and played on a pairing with fellow Milstein client Alexander Bilecki. From Brian again:

He and Bilecki were just such a joy to watch, with Fedoseyev being more consistent defensively. What captured my attention, though, was his decisions with the puck. He was just automatic on breakouts, showing excellent mobility and elusiveness with the puck, and vision to find the best teammate to make his pass to and then nail it tape to tape. He made quick decisions under pressure and pinched effectively along the blueline to keep offensive possessions alive. Defensively, he stopped a one-on-one chance by Pepoy and broke up a dangerous two-on-one rush.

TLN/DFO: 9. Tyler Hopkins
This was the guy they drafted to immediately replace Fraser Minten, basically, a few years younger. Whatever they did to develop Minten's game worked, though Minten is a lot stronger. Hopkins has better wheels though and isn't a beanpole either (a slightly taller William Nylander in his draft year) and wins pucks with more guile than brute force.

 

[herman]

PPP: 19. Noah Chadwick
This is a good read about Chadwick; evaluating defensemen takes a lot of video that doesn't make it to the highlight reels unless the coach attaches him to the offensive generators up front. At this time, I don't see him driving a pairing, more like complementing a better partner as a safety. His game processing is a bit slow at the AHL level to make full use of his physical tools at this time, but experience can help improve his reads and anticipation to a degree. Not sure he clears the Simon Benoit-level replacement line though.

TLN/DFO: 8. Miroslav Holinka
This list is getting into the real prospects territory, at a lower number than we'd like, but that's what 9 years of deadline buying for the playoffs does. He's a bit different than the other centre models the amateur scouting group has targeted in that he has the toolset to do more than just defensively responsible playmaking. More akin to Tinus Luc Koblar, as noted in the article, Holinka is more of a triple-threat in transition, passing, and shooting (from high danger ice), and has layered on more disruption off puck as he grows into his frame. He is one of the main reasons I'll be follow more Marlies games this season.

 

[herman]

I don't know how you put a bunch of players ahead of Cowan and Danford.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2090437336039383478

They gonna fight, right?

I do think it's admirable Pronman is pretty consistent within his reality.