After tallying the votes for this years list of the top Toronto Maple Leafs under 25, we ended up with eleven players who got at least one vote. We’ll count down those players, and as we got from single vote getters to the player ranked 26th, try not to get too angry.
#35 (Tie) - Teemu Kivihalme
2018/19 Team(s): Kärpät, Liiga
2018/19 Stats: 60GP - 9A - 21A - 30Pts
Highest Rank: 18
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 1
Will Scouch was the only voter to pick the free agent, and he placed him not only in the top 25, but in the top 20. Kivihalme should be making his return to North America with the Marlies this fall after spending two seasons in Finland. Before that he spent three years at Colorado College where he put up 36 points in 107 games.
#35 (Tie) - Semyon Kizimov
2018/19 Team(s): Lada Togliatti, VHL
2018/19 Stats: 48GP - 4G - 10A - 14Pts
Highest Rank: 18
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 1
Katya was the lone voter for the 2018 7th rounder. She’ll be writing him up later this week stating her case for the right-winger.
#33 - Jesper Lindgren
2018/19 Team(s): HPK, Kiiga / Toronto Marlies, AHL (playoffs)
2018/19 Stats: 45GP - 2G - 17A - 19Pts / 4GP - 0G - 2A - 2Pts
Highest Rank: 25
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 2
Lindgren got the nod at #25 from Will and Emily this year, and with an eye on an AHL regular season debut in the upcoming season hopefully we’ll be proven wrong about leaving him off the list.
From Will:
People seem to be sleeping on Lindgren a bit. He took a huge step forward driving shot differentials with HPK last year and his offensive production took a step as well. I really hope things start to come together for him with the Marlies full-time, because I’ve been a fan for a while.
#32 - Andreas Borgman
2018/19 Team(s): Toronto Marlies, AHL
2018/19 Stats: 45GP - 4G - 17A - 21Pts
Highest Rank: 18
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 2
Emily (18) and Will (23) once again team up on a player to get him some votes. Borgman spent half of the 2017-18 season with the Maple Leafs, but didn’t see an NHL game last season. Hardev had some thoughts to share while reviewing the Marlies defense this week.
#31 - Micheal Koster
2018/19 Team(s): Minnesota High School /Tri-City Storm, USHL
2018/19 Stats: 40GP - 21G - 50A - 71Pts / 15GP - 2G - 4A - 6Pts
Highest Rank: 20
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 3
Perhaps the first player who should have gotten more votes on this list, the Chaska High School captain was ranked 20th by Kevin, and 25th by Brigstew and Gabriel. Koster will be heading to the University of Minnesota in the fall, where we should keep an eye on him.
#30 - Riley Stotts
2018/19 Team(s): Calgary Hitmen, WHL
2018/19 Stats: 62GP - 19G - 38A - 57Pts
Highest Rank: 19
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 5
The WHL centre will be heading into his fourth year of major junior hockey next season, and the famililarity of CHL players helped to get him five votes for this years list. Two 19th place votes (Katya, Omar), a 22nd (Brigstew), and a 24th (Hardev) and 25th (Helen) made up the picks for this 2018 draft pick.
#29 - Pontus Holmberg, C/LW
2018/19 Team(s): Växjö Lakers HC, SHL
2018/19 Stats: 47GP - 3G - 7A - 10Pts
Highest Rank: 20
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 6
After making his top league debut this season, Holmberg also got promoted into the top 30 of the top 25. Omar had him ranked highest at #20, followed by #21 for Katya, #24 for myself, Brigstew and Fulemin, and #25 from Rahef.
#28 - Nicholas Abruzzese
2018/129 Team(s): Chicago Steel, USHL
2018/19 Stats: 62GP - 29G - 51A - 80Pts
Highest Rank: 19
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 8
Harvard bound Nicholas was named to the USHL All-Star team for last season and led the league in scoring with 80 points. This got him all the way up to 19th from Species, 20th from Arvind and Katya, 21st from Omar, 22nd from the Raptors pair Daniel and Gabriel, 23rd from Rahef and 25th from Kevin. A good showing for a newly drafted player.
#27 - Dmytro Timashov
2018/19 Team(s): Toronto Marlies, AHL
2018/19 Stats: 72GP - 14G - 35A - 49Pts
Highest Rank: 14
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 8
Timahosv is a familiar face on these lists, and this year he was bumped out of the Top 25 for the first time since he was drafted. Will was highest on him, placing him 14th, with a drop to 18th from Daniel; I ranked him 21st, followed by three 22nd votes from Emily and Mel/J from the Real Gud Pros podcast. Two 23rd palce votes from Helen and Fulemin round things out.
#26 - Mikhail Abramov
2018/19 Team(s): Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL
2018/19 Stats: 62GP - 16G - 38A - 54Pts
Highest Rank: 13
Lowest Rank: Not Ranked
Total Votes: 8
Our final honourable mention goes to a player who many will think we failed on, and perhaps exposes flaws in the voting system. Eight of seventeen voters ranked him, and five put him in the Top 20: I had him 13th, Katya and Omar had him 24th, Arvind had him 15th, Species had him at 18th. Then it’s 22nd from Rahef and two 23rd place votes from Kevin and Brigstew.
This could be one of the bigger omissions from the list, especially once you all have done the math and figured out who got in instead of him.
Those are the players who just missed the cut. Have fun in the comments everyone!
