Maple Leafs Prospect Report: The Semi Finals Begin

Five of Toronto's prospects advanced to the second round of their league's respective playoffs, and all five have advanced to their conference finals/league semi-finals. Here's a quick look at how they all did individually for their teams, and what their next match ups look like in terms of scheduling and chances to advance for the finals.

Alexander Plesovskikh

Plesovskikh and Spartak made quick work of their second round opponent, losing the opening game in a shootout but then running off three straight wins to defeat Dynamo St. Petersberg in four games. Plesovskikh was relatively quiet on the scoreboard, with a goal and an assist in the first two games but was held without a point in the next two. Still, he averaged five shots on net per game so he was still getting his chances and he kept his ice time.

Their next series starts over the weekend will be against Chaika, who were ranked 4th in their conference. This should be another fairly easy matchup for Spartak, considering they finished with 8 more wins and were +64 better in goal differential. Added to that, Chaika played in the weaker conference. But it is still the playoffs, so we'll see if the underdog can pull off the upset or if Spartak breezes to the MHL finals.

Here's the schedule for the next playoff round:

Game 1 – Saturday April 26th @ 10:00 am EST

Game 2 – Sunday April 27th @ 10:00 am EST

Game 3 – Wednesday April 30th @ 11:00 am EST

Game 4 – Thursday May 1st @ 6:00 am EST

Easton Cowan

When we last left Cowan, he just finished contributing to a dominating 4-0 sweep against Owen Sound. The stomping continued against Erie, as London swept the four game series while outscoring them 21-8. Cowan was even better in the second round than the first, putting up 4 goals and 12 points in just the 4 games. He now leads the team in playoff points with 21 in 8 games. All but three of those are primary points, and he has almost as many short handed points (3) as powerplay points (4). Going back to the regular season he is on an 18 game point streak where he has 17 goals and 45 points. Suffice to say, he's been on a hell of a heater.

They will be playing Kitchener in the Conference Finals and it should be as good a matchup as they can get. Kitchener finished second in the OHL in points, behind only London. They just came off a dramatic reverse sweep – falling down to Windsor 3-0 in the series before winning four straight, including a game 7 overtime win. London won their regular season matchup 4-2, but the goals were 19-17 so it was a very tight matchup. Still, I think London will take the series with relative ease. I doubt it will be another sweep, and if London does win it will likely be their hardest matchup in these playoffs, but I could see it being a 5-6 game series win for the Knights.

Here's their second round schedule:

Game 1 – Friday April 25th @ 7:00 pm EST

Game 2 – Sunday April 27th @ 4:00 pm EST

Game 3 – Monday April 28th @ 7:00 pm EST

Game 4 – Wednesday April 30th @ 7:00 pm EST

Game 5 – Friday May 2nd @ 7:00 pm EST

Game 6 – Sunday May 4th @ 2:00 pm EST

Game 7 – Tuesday May 6th @ 7:00 pm EST

Ben Danford

Danford and Oshawa looked to be in trouble after losing the first two games, but they had four straight wins after to clinch their second round playoff series against the top team in their conference. Danford was excellent for Oshawa – he had only two points, both in the same game, but he was a +5 and was stellar defensively through every game. Not just in terms of shutting down opponents and killing penalties, but also in terms of the little things – being calm when he got possession in his own end, making a clever play to protect the puck and get it to a teammate so they have an easier time on the breakout. It helped limit additional chances against and helped them be on the attack more often.

Their next series will be against the Barrie Colts, who won their division but finished tied for the same amount of points as Oshawa in the standings. By goal differential, Oshawa has a slightly better offense and defense at even strength, while Barrie has the slightly better power play and penalty kill. Barrie won their regular season matchup 3-1, with the goals being 22-14 in Barrie's favour. So it will likely be a pretty tight series but with an edge to Barrie.

Here's their second round schedule:

Game 1 – Friday April 25th @ 7:30 pm EST

Game 2 – Sunday April 27th @ 6:00 pm EST

Game 3 – Tuesday April 29th @ 7:05 pm EST

Game 4 – Thursday May 1st @ 7:05 pm EST

Game 5 – Saturday May 3rd @ 7:30 pm EST

Game 6 – Monday May 5th @ 7:05 pm EST

Game 7 – Tuesday May 6th @ 7:05 pm EST

Nathan Mayes

Mayes and Spokane had a much tougher time against Victoria. They won in six games, outshot them pretty heavily, and looked to have control of the game the most. On the other hand, Victoria were very good at creating dangerous scoring chances and making them count. It didn't help that Spokane's main goalie missed a game or two from some kind of illness or injury. In the end, it took three overtime wins to finish off the series, it was that close. Mayes was very solid for his team, pitching in two points, averaging over four shots per game – much higher than his usual average, but five additional periods of overtime help with that – and playing his usual steady defense with good zone exit rates.

For the conference finals, they will face Portland. The same Portland that upset Prince George also then upset Everett, the best team in the regular season. They've played a lot of hockey at this point, needing all seven games in both series so far. But there are some signs that Spokane should be pretty heavily favoured in this matchup. They had 9 more wins in the regular season, and a +90 vs -8 goal differential. They also won the regular season match up 4-2, with the goals being 29-21 in Spokane's favour. But both teams' best players are dominating the playoff leaderboard for stats, so this could be an absolute wagon of a series for offense. I expect Spokane to win in something like 6 games, maybe 5 if they get good bounces.

Here's their second round schedule:

Game 1 – Friday April 25th @ 10:05 pm EST

Game 2 – Sunday April 27th @ 8:05 pm EST

Game 3 – Wednesday April 30th @ 10:00 pm EST

Game 4 – Thursday May 1st @ 10:00 pm EST

Game 5 – Saturday May 3rd @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 6 – Monday May 5th @ 10:05 pm EST

Game 7 – Tuesday May 6th @ 10:05 pm EST

Noah Chadwick

Lethbridge have had a slower, steadier path to the conference finals. Chadwick is tied for second on the team in playoff scoring in both goals (5) and points (12), one back of the leader in both categories. They are not an offensive juggernaut, though I'd say their play style as a team matches up pretty well with Toronto's. They build a lead early if they can, then play a tighter, safer defense to hold onto it – you'd never guess that they have a former NHL coach, Bill Peters (yuck), running things.

It took them 7 games to pull off the mild upset over Calgary, and now they will face Medicine Hat – the best team in their conference who have the best offense and goal differential in the entire WHL, and who have yet to lose in the playoffs. On paper it looks like Lethbridge are pretty heavy underdogs, but it will be an interesting matchup. Lethbridge actually won the regular season series 4-3, outscoring Medicine Hat 28-23. While it was a higher scoring pace for Lethbridge, it was a lower scoring pace for Medicine Hat. It really feels like its a match up of an elite offense vs an elite defense, so I think it could wind up being a close series even if I still think Medicine Hat will win.

Here's their second round schedule:

Game 1 – Friday April 25th @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 2 – Saturday April 26th @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 3 – Tuesday April 29th @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 4 – Wednesday April 30th @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 5 – Friday May 2nd @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 6 – Saturday May 3rd @ 9:00 pm EST

Game 7 – Tuesday May 6th @ 9:00 pm EST

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.

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