Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Europe Check-In

The past few years had been a treat to follow European hockey because of the likes of Hildeby, Grebyonkin, Akhtyamov, and Niemelä. With all of them making the jump to North America, there wasn't any noteworthy prospects still left playing in Europe. So of course, Toronto used a bunch of their mid to late round draft picks this past summer to draft four guys out of Sweden, Czechia, and Russia.

The Czech guy, Holinka, made the jump to the CHL, but that still left a scrawny Swedish defenseman no one heard about, an unusual goalie no one heard about, and a young Russian forward that no one heard about. So let's talk about them.

Victor Johansson

Is it time to get legitimately excited for Johansson as a legit prospect? I can't say for sure, not yet anyway. But it's getting awful close. Back in September I looked deeper into his hot start to the season, where he looked like he was already having a breakout.

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.

PPP LeafsBrian S

Everything I said basically held true. His point production did "cool off", in that he wasn't above a point per game and leading the league in points. But he is still one of the top point producing defensemen with 29 in 39 games. He's consistently showing the same consistent ability to evade forecheckers and start a controlled breakout, being a solo transition machine by weaving through the neutral zone, and making smart and creative passes to create and facilitate offense. He has also continued to be Leksands' top defensemen at even strength in terms of defensive play as well, showing good instincts to shut down puck carriers and using a physical edge despite still being pretty skinny. I would definitely say he has better projection offensively than defensively, but there is some two-way balance to his game.

The big question for him is if he can continue to elevate his play with bigger opportunities. He's been called up for two short stints to the SHL, Sweden's top pro league, but only gotten a few shifts combined between four games that he dressed for. He's also gotten the call for Sweden internationally recently, playing for their U19 squad in the Five Nations tournament between Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Switzerland and Germany. This is not Sweden's best roster for the age group, it's worth noting, and he is more of a depth defenseman in the bottom pair (sometimes middle pair) than being The Guy. But it's a good thing that he's getting some recognition now, and despite the more limited role he does have two assists the four games of the tournament.

Alexander Plesovskikh

I'm still confused by Plesovskikh. I can't decide if he's actually pretty good, in the same kind of way as Sam McCue, or what. He plays a depth role for one of the best teams in the MHL as a D+1 prospect, which is not typically a good sign to still be there at his age for any legit prospect. He has 13 goals and 31 points in 42 games, well below a point per game at a lesser junior league at an age when he should be starting to break into Russia's pro leagues.

Plesovskikh's usage this season has also been weird. He played the first month getting top six minutes and secondary PP time, then his ice time got cut to under 10 minutes for 7 games in October/November. Then his ice time went back up again. His production also has been up and down to an extreme degree:

• 10 points in the first 9 games
• 2 points in the next 11 games (both in one game right in the middle of that stretch)
• 6 points in a 4 game streak
• 0 points in 5 games
• 13 points in the last 13 MHL games

That recent stretch of better production and better, more consistent play has led him to getting a short stint in the VHL very recently, which is Russia's equivalent to the AHL. He had a two game call up for his organization and played an average of 10 minutes in each game, so not nothing.

So here's the context that's good to know. I mentioned that Spartak is one of the best teams in the MHL, and Plesovskikh may have been used as more of a supporting guy, but all the top players on his team were all older. Many of them missed the start of the MHL season, when Plesovskikh had more of a role and more playing time and better production. The three top producing forwards have all been called up to the VHL on what looks to be a mostly permanent basis. Now that this has happened is when Plesovskikh has seen his production improve as well. Basically, it looks like his production has come and gone as he got a bigger role or not. When he's been given a top role, he's produced like a top player.

So what I still haven't figured out is who Plesovskikh really is at this point. I've seen him pull off, in isolation, some pretty plays – handling the puck, making a good pass, blasting a one timer, plus all the little things in terms of positioning, deflections, working hard, showing some cleverness and smarts, and so on. I would say that he certainly seems like he should be better than you'd think when looking at his stats, considering the league and his age. So is the problem that he isn't consistently able to combine all those isolated skills together? He seems like he should be able to drive a line with his ability to carry the puck, shoot it, pass it, make good, clever little plays... at the MHL anyway.

So why hasn't he? Is it because he hasn't been asked to, and rather he has been asked to defer to his older and/or better teammates that were above him for most the season? Would he be treated the same at this point next season, when he's the age they are now? He does play for one of the best and deepest organizations in Russian hockey, but I just can't really figure him out in this regard.

Fuck it, let's just call him Russian Sam McCue.

Timofei Obvintsev

This will be a short update, because there just isn't much to say. After looking pretty great in the pre-season, Obvintsev very quickly lost the 1A starting job to a top goalie prospect in the upcoming 2025 job. It took until November/December for him to seemingly lose the 1B/backup goalie job.

As of now, Obvintsev has not played in a single game since December 17th. Before that, he hadn't played since November 7th. He did serve as the backup to his VHL team for two games on January 10th and 14th, but since then he hasn't even dressed as a backup anywhere. I don't know if he's hurt, or he's simply played himself out of any role. That was sort of the case last year before he got an opportunity later in the season and ran with it, and his stats this year – while not great – are not terrible. If he still has it, it looks like he'll need to get moved to another team where he'll have an opportunity to regularly play.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!