Maple Leafs Pipeline List grows by 9 names

With the draft behind us, we can see how the pipeline looks now. The pipeline list is the future of the team, and it contains everyone the Leafs have negotiating rights to, but haven’t signed.

How long those rights last for the new guys is an open question in a few cases. Barring confirmation of exactly what the rules are for each individual, I’ve left that blank for now unless I’m sure.

The 2018-2019 team for some players is unknown. If a player is under 20 and in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) or if they are below their total years in the NCAA, I’ve assumed they will roll forward on their current team in most cases.  The web version is available for you as well.

Maple Leafs 2018 Post-Draft Pipeline

If sorted that by birth date, so you can see where the new players fit by age.  Starting at the top, I’ll run down what we don’t know.

Martins Dzierkals and Vladimir Bobylev have no contracts listed publicly for this season. Dzierkals may be on a two-year AHL deal, and we just don’t know.

The two new, older, defenders, Mac Hollowell and Sean Durzi are both Canadian, both drafted out of the OHL and they both turn 20 before the end of the year. I think they both have two-year rights, but I’m not sure what happens if they don’t return to the OHL. While they likely will do that, they are technically eligible to play in the AHL this season.

In the future, though, we should remember that while they were drafted in different years they are both nearly the same age as Fedor Gordeev, and quite a bit older than Eemeli Räsänen, who is playing pro hockey this year. This is a bit like Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews being contemporaries who were drafted in different years. You need to forget the draft year and focus on birth dates.

Pontus Holmberg is a simple case. He is signed to Växjö in the SHL, and he is expected to play a top-six role there. The Leafs will have his rights for four years.

Filip Kral is a question mark on both rights and this year’s team. He is Czech, has played in Czechia his whole life until last season when he played in the WHL. For European players drafted out of the CHL, you need to know the nature of their CHL contract to know if their rights are held for two or four years. If he’s on a loan deal, and he likely is, it’s four years.  He could play pro hockey somewhere in Europe this year or return to Spokane.

Zachary Bouthillier, the third goalie on this list now, is a nice simple case of a Canadian in the Q who will almost certainly return to his team. He will be a two-year rights situation.

Riley Stotts, a centre in the WHL, is the same as Bouthillier, and will be held on two-year rights.

Semyon Kizimov is also straight forward. He’s a Russian, drafted out of Russia, and his rights are indefinite. His club team has a VHL squad as well as an MHL and KHL teams, and he could move freely between them based on his development.

Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, the youngest player in the draft this year, has been playing in Canada for years now. He will likely return to the Petes, but without clarity on his status as a loan from some Russian club — this looks unlikely, but you never know — his rights might be two years or the usual Russian indefinite.

And last, but certainly not least is Rasmus Sandin, the first round pick of the Leafs this year. He played in the Soo last year on a loan deal, so his rights are likely four years, but I’m being very cautious in not filling that in.

This coming season is the question for Sandin. After the draft on Friday night, Kyle Dubas spoke to reporters and talked like Sandin would return to the Soo. However, Rögle of the SHL do have him under contract for this season. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the club Timothy Liljegren was drafted from, and they were embarking on a hellish season last year that made Liljegren’s move to the AHL a no-brainer.

The team has undergone a total overhaul, one we should be familiar with. They fired their GM and head coach midseason and replaced them with two former players, Canadians Cam and Chris Abbott.  They have righted the ship pretty comprehensively, and the team could well be a good place for a young up and coming player to get ice time.

But, as Dubas mentioned, the defender blocking Sandin from the top power play in the Soo will be gone, so he can also get really good development time there. Tie goes to the GM for me. I am guessing Sandin will be loaned to the Soo again next year.  And yes, as a European, he could technically play in the AHL next year instead. I think the chances of that are very small.  You can count me as someone not a fan of 18 year old players in the AHL without extenuating circumstances making it worth the drawbacks.