Nick Moldenhauer, the Leafs third round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, has committed to the University of Michigan when he joins the NCAA next season. The 18-year-old has put up 10 goals and 17 points in 11 games so far this season to lead his team the Chicago Steel of the USHL after going better than a point per game last season. Congrats to the Leafs prospect on getting into an excellent program in Michigan and hopefully we see great things from him in the future.

If there’s one downside to this news, it’s that Brigstew couldn’t put this in his prospect report that came out yesterday morning. Here it is featuring Fraser Minten, Matthew Knies, and Nikita Grebyonkin, among all the rest of the Leafs prospects. For those of y’all who want the Leafs to burn it all down, this is surely required reading.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Minten, Knies, and Grebyonkin

Sheldon Keefe continued to go hard on his players yesterday at practice back in Toronto, saying the team is fortunate to have the points they got so far.

Here is a full practice report, featuring the news that Pontus Holmberg has joined the Leafs (see, November call-up!) and will likely make his debut tonight.

Maple Leafs practice report: Matt Murray is skating

Around the league, Connor Brown and Ondřej Palat are both out long-term with major injuries.

Here is a cool article visualizing NHL revenues from recent seasons, starring the Leafs at the top, with commentary on the pandemic losses and the Arizona Coyotes decision to not make any revenue this season or for the next while. Also, the Ottawa Senators are up for sale.

NHL Franchise Valuations Interactive Data Viz

And finally, a tease from Adidas. From Anaheim to Tampa, I wonder what connects those two general locations?

From The Branches