Updated Maple Leafs Prospect Pipeline

The draft rights clock ran out at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, and as expected three of the Maple Leafs draftees were let go without contracts.

We already knew that Keaton Middleton and Nicolas Mattinen were returning to the draft, but there’s two updates today to two other drafted players.

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First, Vladimir Bobylyov who was with a WHL team when he was drafted in the fifth round in 2016, and has always been listed as having two-year rights, is now listed on Cap Friendly as indefinitely under Leafs’ control, like players drafted directly from Russia. This could indicate his original deal in the WHL was a loan. These situations are often not clear at the time.

Bobylyov, who is now 21, played mostly junior hockey in Russia this past season and currently has no contract for the coming year. He was not ready to move to the second level men’s league, and that seem unlikely to have suddenly changed.

Recently, it became clear that J.J. Piccinich, who was on the Orlando Solar Bears on an AHL contract from the Toronto Marlies in 2017-2018 is still under contract for one more year. It will be up to his training camp performance to determine if he’ll play in Toronto or St. John’s this season.

However, an AHL deal does not preserve his NHL draft rights. He could accept an ELC from any NHL team that wants to offer one, as unlikely as that is. Martins Dzierkals is in a similar situation, however his AHL deal seems to have run out, per the listing on Elite Prospects, but his draft rights are good for another year. We should expect him back on another AHL deal unless he has a desire to go back to Europe to play. There was a rumour to that effect in early spring, but it wasn’t very solid.

The pipeline list now sits at 14 names, pending the draft and any future transactions. The list has also been updated with any new information about next year’s situation for players.

Maple Leafs Pipeline