With Toronto's Prospect Showndown games against the Montreal Canadiens coming up this weekend, they finally got around to releasing their roster:

You can also read Montreal's roster if you want to compare:

If you want it in a cleaner list, here is the breakdown by position:

  • Forwards: Hirvonen, Minten, Muranov, Mastrosimone, Voit, Cowan, Quillan, Kressler, Finnie, Barbolini, Grebenkin, McCue, Stevens, Lisowsky, Holinka
  • Defense: Danford, Niemela, Webber, Chadwick, McLeary, Mayes, Parsons, Sharpe
  • Goalies: Hildeby, Peksa, Akhtyamov

My thoughts are that Montreal's defense is better, but (and my bias might be showing) I think Toronto's forwards are better – assuming they play all their top forwards each game. It is interesting that Toronto brought three extra forwards for two games, especially when they have four free agent invites – Lisowsky, Finnie, Muranov, and Parsons. We'll see if this is because Toronto is serious about signing any of them, since all of them are aging out of the CHL and likely want some kind of AHL or even ECHL deal.

All that aside, here's my ideal lineup and some miscellaneous thoughts on Toronto's players:

Forwards

Cowan - Minten - Grebenkin
Hirvonen - Quillan - Voit
Lisowsky - Holinka - Kressler

Three of Toronto's most interesting prospects are who I want to see together. They all have an interesting mix of being dogs on the ice, smart, and a mix of skill that could blend well together. I also want to see if they have the ability to dominate against Montreal's best.

The rest is a mix. There are only really five other forwards I want to see get tested, and they're all in the second and third lines – Hirvonen and Voit have both dealt with some injuries the past couple of years, but are also two of the higher ceiling prospects left on the roster. Voit I think adds a level of skill to Hirvonen's smarts and Quillan's defense. The other two may not have any high level of finish for Voit's playmaking, but honestly Toronto's forward group doesn't have a lot of that.

Lisowsky seems like the free agent Toronto might be the most interested in, and I want to challenge Holinka as a 3C to show off how much of a two-way guy he can be against competition tougher than Czechia's junior league. Quillan and Kressler are more two-way minded and can be the responsible presence on their lines, but I could just as easily swap Kressler out for Mastrosimone, Barbolini, or any of the other Marlies guys.

The fourth line/extra spot in the middle six aside from Kressler can be who they swap out between the two games. They're interchangeable to me.

Defense

Webber - Niemelä
Chadwick - Danford
Mayes - McCleary

Honestly it was a lot easier to put together the defense. Webber is a guy I want to see challenged against top offenses, and his all-defense style could (in theory) work well with Niemelä's puck moving/offensive focus. Chadwick and Danford are both a bit younger, but also have an interesting mix as both are supposed to be more two-way minded. But I also think they could cover for each other's issues to some extent, better than the other two. I suspect this could be the top four in both games.

Mayes and McCleary are the two remaining that I want to see. McCleary was a free agent they signed to an AHL deal after his solid showing at the rookie camp. He has size, but is a very good skater and some two-way chops. Mayes is more purely defensive minded, but also pretty big and as a recent draft pick I want to see him in action too. More than Sharpe anyway, who was also an AHL signing.

Goalies

Hildeby
Akhtyamov
Peksa

Hildeby and Akhtyamov are the headline goalies for Toronto, and will likely split the two games. I'm mildly curious to see if they give Peksa any time, since he seems like he's in a tier below the other two at this point, but they may want to give him a look as well.

General Thoughts

Honestly, I'm really looking forward to these games. There's a few guys that we'll see playing against this kind of competition (NHL prospects) for the first time – Grebenkin, Holinka, and Danford most of all.

Maple Leafs Prospects