Brian S

Brian S

Total 176 Posts
  • Ontario
I like watching and writing about prospects. You can find my older posts from SB Nation here: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/author/brian-stewart/

2025 NHL Draft: December Watch List

Looking at the prospect rankings as of December 2024 to get an idea of what prospects I like may be available in the second round.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Sam McCue

McCue is leading a below-average team in many offensive categories and has some intriguing finishing ability combined with effort and grit, but does he have the supporting skills to give him a shot at an NHL future?

Maple Leafs Sign Alex Nylander, Place Knies on IR

You can never have too many Nylanders.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Miroslav Holinka Is Heating Up

Holinka started a bit slow but has really played strong over the last couple of weeks, both offensively and defensively.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: October 2024 Roundup

All of Toronto's prospects have begun their seasons by now, so it's time to look at how everyone is doing.

2025 NHL Draft: September Watch List

Bob McKenzie's first ranking of the season just dropped, and it's time for me to ignore everyone on it to see who the unnamed players are that could wind up as second rounders.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Early Victor Johansson Thoughts

Toronto's most curious prospect from the 2024 draft has begun his season in Sweden, and it's time to talk about how he's looked early on.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Rookie Tournament Standouts

Thoughts about Toronto's various prospects that played this weekend in Montreal, from the top picks to the free agents.

Maple Leafs release their Prospect Showdown roster

Minten and Cowan headline their prospect tournament squad against the Montreal Canadiens this coming weekend.

2024 T25U25: Easton Cowan is #2

There were many questions asked about Cowan when he was picked, and he answered all of them and more definitively. His time anywhere other than #1 on our rankings is short.

2024 T25U25: Ben Danford is #5

Toronto's latest top draft pick makes his debut in our top five, but it's up to you to decide if that says more about him or the state of their prospect depth.

2024 T25U25: Nikita Grebenkin is #6

There are some who call him.... Greb?

2024 T25U25: Miroslav Holinka is #9

One of Toronto's newest prospects seems like their biggest swing on upside and skill from the most recent draft, and debuts very high on our rankings this year as a result.

2024 T25U25: Artur Akhtyamov is #12

Time for goalie talk.

2024 T25U25: Jacob Quillan is #17

One of the newer prospects to join the organization as an NCAA free agent makes his debut in our Top 25 Under 25 series.

2024 T25U25: Ty Voit is #18

Everything that could have gone wrong for Ty Voit last season, did go wrong. Now he's hoping to make a comeback and salvage his chances at an NHL career.

2024 T25U25: Victor Johansson is #22

Who is this man of mystery? We have video.

2024 T25U25: Hudson Malinoski is #25

Kicking off this year's T25U25 rankings is Hudson Malinoski, the center playing in the NCAA who has some two-way potential but not a lot of exciting offensive impacts so far.

Early Thoughts on Toronto's 2024 Draft Picks

The draft and development camp is in the rear view mirror now, and I've finally finished writing profiles for all of Toronto's picks. I have some miscellaneous thoughts based around the draft that I want to share before moving on to the next season.

Getting to Know Victor Johansson

Toronto's fourth round pick was one of the biggest mystery picks in the 2024 draft, given how few people knew anything about him and how there were no scouting reports from any outlet. I looked into him as much as I could

Getting to Know Sam McCue

Looking at one of Toronto's newest forward prospects, Sam McCue. He was drafted in the 7th round and will be a particular kind of player, but can he make the NHL?

Standouts from Toronto's 2024 development camp

With the 2024 summer development camp for Toronto's prospects and free agent invites done, I look back at the exhibition game and the news, press conferences and interviews from last week to talk about who stood out the most.

Getting to Know Matthew Lahey

Lahey is a hulking 6'5" defenseman who gets strong reviews for his defensive play and mobility. Let's look at his highlights and scouting reports to see if we can get an idea for how well he projects to the NHL.

Getting to Know Nathan Mayes

Looking at the highlights, scouting reports, and game video of Toronto's latest hulking defensemen drafted out of Spokane in the 7th round of the 2024 NHL draft.

Getting to Know Timofei Obvintsev

Toronto's newest goalie prospect seemingly follows a new tradition for drafting relatively obscure, re-entry netminders out of Russia. Seems to have worked out just fine with Akhtyamov, but have they caught lightning in a bottle twice?
You've successfully subscribed to PPP Leafs
Great! Next, consider subscribing to support PPP Leafs
Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.
Unable to sign you in. Please try again.
Success! Your account is fully activated.
Error! Stripe checkout failed.
Success! Your billing info is updated.
Error! Billing info update failed.