Hot or Cold: Toronto Maple Leafs Junior and College Prospects

If you missed part one of this two-part miniseries, click here to catch up.

Morgan Rielly – D – Moose Jaw (WHL): Hot

The Toronto Maple Leafs only have one prospect in the WHL, Morgan Rielly. He is perhaps the most important in the entire system and is certainly one of the most dynamic.

Rielly has started the year off by not only meeting but exceeding expectations. He has 18 points in 15 games, which includes a five assist game. Moose Jaw is a mediocre team but Rielllly is one of the key factors keeping them respectable.

He controls the game offensively and has unbelievable vision. He is also fully healthy and showing no ill effects from his surgically repaired knee. Rielly has a strong chance to represent Canada at the 2013 World Junior Championships and will play in both games for the WHL during the Subway Super Series.

Dominic Toninato – F – Fargo (USHL): Hot

Toninato is the lone prospect for the Maple Leafs in the USHL. He showed some flashes in the Leafs’ summer development camp and those skills have translated over to the hockey season.

He has ten points in ten games for Fargo and is one of their key offensive contributors. He is also second on the team with a plus-seven rating, which shows strong defensive awareness for a young player. The team has a wide range of plus/minus, including one at minus-seven, which helps support this notion.

Toninato is another five-year project who as of ten games of year one, appears to be a potential NHL player.

NCAA

The NCAA season has only just begun and thus the analysis is minimal, but a few trends have emerged early for the five Maple Leaf prospects.

Tony Cameranesi has played all six games for Minnesota-Duluth to begin his freshman season. He is currently centering the third line, has three points and scored his first collegiate goal on October 19. As a freshman, it is a very good sign for his development to see him receiving quality ice time.

Eric Knodel was a scratch in the first game of the season for New Hampshire. It has not been determined if this was due to injury or another reason, but the strong skating giant returned in the second game of the season and recorded an assist. Fans can only hope that the scratch was due to an injury or was merely an anomaly.

Max Everson and Harvard have only played one game, but Everson played a key role in Harvard’s lone exhibition win and looks poised for an increased role.

Andrew MacWilliam was suspended for his team’s opener along with the other captains for violating team rules.

Dennis Robertson and Brown began on October 26. Robertson has no points and two penalty minutes through two games.

It is early in the season but the non-professional prospects of the Toronto Maple Leafs are showing some serious flashes of potential. They are not all playing at the level they could, but they are all at least demonstrating some NHL potential.

With the NHL still in a lockout these players and their teams can offer Leaf fans some relief. It will be interesting to see how these players continue to progress as the season goes on.

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