The Toronto Maple Leafs’ season may be over, but the opportunities for potential future Leafs to prove themselves continue.
The American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies begin the Calder Cup playoffs on Wednesday with their deepest team in years. In total, 12 players who played for the Leafs this season returned to the Marlies for the playoffs. After a swift elimination last season, the Marlies are aiming for a better fate in their best-of-three first-round series against the Rochester Americans.
An eventual new management group and possibly a new coach mean the Leafs’ roster is in flux. A glut of late-season NHL auditions for multiple young AHL-based prospects suggests the organization may turn more eyes down the Gardiner Expressway to Coca-Cola Coliseum to see what young — and cheap — players can contribute in next season’s Leafs training camp.
There is also plenty at stake for multiple Marlies through the playoffs. Let’s break down what multiple young Toronto-based NHL prospects have riding on this AHL playoff run, ranked from least to most at stake:
10. Landon Sim/Vinny Borgesi
Neither Sim nor Borgesi is likely to factor in Game 1. Sim projects to be a healthy scratch, and Borgesi skated with the team’s development unit after the main practice on Tuesday.
Things can change quickly in the playoffs, however. Both players have unique talents and the potential to make an impact if called upon.
Sim, to start, does not play a quiet game, but the forward’s stock has quietly risen in the organization this season.
The 2022 St. Louis Blues sixth-round draft pick went unsigned, spending four seasons alongside Easton Cowan with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights. Sim, 21, then signed a one-year AHL contract ahead of this season. He battled injuries and split time between the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones and the Marlies, showing off his rough-and-tumble, full-throttle style. Sim is a prototypical fourth-line energy player: He will stop at nothing to tilt the ice in his team’s favour. Whether or not this organization is run by people such as Brad Treliving and Craig Berube, who leaned too heavily on those types, you still need players of Sim’s ilk around.
That’s why it was notable that Sim was signed to a two-year NHL contract after Treliving’s firing. The Leafs — at least Ryan Hardy and Brandon Pridham — clearly see something in Sim.
If Sim gets a shot this playoff run, you’d like to see him turn his penchant for physicality, nastiness and energy into a force for good, not just chaos. Can he suck opposition players in and draw penalties? Can he win board battles and wear down opposition defenders to give the top Marlies lines better scoring opportunities?
The Leafs clearly like Sim, but he’ll need to earn more trust with his play through the playoffs.
Borgesi, 22, is intriguing. The 5-foot-8 right-shot defender is signed to a two-year contract beginning in 2026-27 but has started with the Marlies on an ATO. While other Marlies have been released from their tryout contracts ahead of the playoffs (Frank Djurasevic, Brandon Buhr), Borgesi has stuck around. He’s played seven regular-season games. The Marlies coaching staff wouldn’t be keeping him around if they didn’t see potential for him to influence playoff games.
It’s starting to feel like the Leafs believe they’ve found a diamond in the rough in the skilled, mobile and competitive defender.
Borgesi could turn some playoff success — and that means creating offence in transition — into a lengthy look at training camp next season.
9. Artur Akhtyamov
Akhtyamov last played playoff hockey in 2024, when he backstopped Neftyanik Almetyevsk to a VHL championship in Russia. The 24-year-old goalie has the talent but feels lower down the depth chart than Hildeby.
If Akhtyamov gets called upon in short order, can he rediscover his playoff form from two years ago? And if he does, does the organization then start to see him as capable of handling 40+ games as an AHL starter next season? That’s the next step for him en route to possibly playing in the NHL.
8. Noah Chadwick
Chadwick is still at least a full season away from contention for NHL minutes — he needs to add some size and physical elements — but the Marlies staff loves how much he grew in his first full pro campaign. Mark Giordano called the 20-year-old left shot defender the Marlies’ “most improved player by a mile” this season. Chadwick’s hockey IQ is off the charts, and it allows him to work in different scenarios.
“When smart players are told certain things, you usually only have to tell them once or twice,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said. “The other guys, you might have to keep telling them. (Chadwick) is the type of guy that does figure it out quickly.”
The next step for Chadwick is showing more decisiveness and intensity during games. He looks on the verge of being an impactful everyday player. While many of the plays Chadwick makes are effective, they’re also not pivotal, game-changing ones. In the playoffs, truly influencing games for the better could be what pushes him into the NHL conversation.
Bo Groulx played 13 games with the Leafs this season. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
7. Bo Groulx
Groulx looked like an NHL forward during his 13 games with the Leafs this season, scoring three goals. The problem? Those games came when there wasn’t as much competition for roster spots, and the Leafs season was essentially over.
The 26-year-old showed enough offence and energy to make you wonder if he could earn another lengthy NHL look out of training camp next season. But at that age, the room for growth is also limited. That’s why he’s lower down this list.
What you’d like to see from Groulx is continued leadership and guidance through the playoffs. He should be in contention for a spot between the Leafs and the Marlies next season. More of what he’s done all season will solidify that spot.
6. Easton Cowan
The Leafs’ top young player is low on this list because, well, he doesn’t have much to prove in the AHL. This 20-year-old will be a top-nine NHL player next season, no question. The Leafs organization likely wants to see him dominate in the AHL so he can enter his next training camp with more confidence.
5. Luke Haymes
The jump from the AHL to the NHL looked like a wide one for Haymes this season. After finishing fourth in goals among Marlies in his rookie AHL season, the toolsy centre had too many deer-in-the-headlights moments during his four-game late-season NHL stint.
A former NCAA free agent, Haymes is an uber-intelligent player and should get more NHL minutes next season. But to get there, the 22-year-old will have to show more confidence and process decisions more quickly when he gets the puck. The effort is there, but he has to show he can play heavy hockey at the next level. A lengthy playoff run could be the right time for Haymes to do so.
4. Marshall Rifai
It was something of a lost season for the gnarly 28-year-old defender. A wrist injury in training camp and ensuing surgery meant the physical blueliner played just 20 AHL games and one NHL game. That’s a fraction of what he’s played in the past, and Rifai struggled to make a meaningful impact night after night.
The playoffs offer a chance to reset his game. There is probably an NHL player in there somewhere, but Rifai needs to show he can balance heavy doses of physicality with composure on and off the puck. NHL coaches need to know they can trust Rifai in moments of heightened tension. He hasn’t always shown that in Toronto.
“(Rifai) is not an easy guy to play against,” Gruden said. “I think that’s one of the biggest compliments you can have as a defenceman.”
3. William Villeneuve
After four years of steady improvement in the AHL, the puck-moving right-shot defenceman finally got his first NHL game once the Leafs’ season was essentially done and dusted. He struggled to find his footing at first. When he did, Villeneuve looked like he could handle sheltered NHL minutes.
Will the Leafs see him as capable of handling more than that?
“It’s hard when you don’t have that cushion on a one-year deal, but it’s one last chance to show what I can do,” Villeneuve said of the AHL playoffs.
If Villeneuve dominated on the Marlies power play during the playoffs and contributed to game and series-changing goals, the decision to qualify the pending RFA and push him to the NHL could come that much easier. Like others on this list, what’s at stake for Villeneuve is whether he can take over in big games.
2. Jacob Quillan
Could Quillan be the next Leafs fourth-line centre? In a perfect world, that’s the role the 24-year-old would jump into next season on the cheap. Quillan will be an RFA at the end of this season and should not be due much of a raise on his $875,000 AAV.
That’s partly because Quillan scored just one goal and had three points through his 23 NHL games this season. The centre was speedy but not always noticeable. If the Leafs are going to bet on him to be their 4C next season, they’ll need to know he can chip in more offence than he did this season.
Quillan’s biggest open question is clear through the playoffs: Can he find the back of the net consistently? Then, can he translate that offence to the NHL level? That’s the missing piece in his game. His immediate NHL future might depend on finding that piece.
1. Dennis Hildeby
Gruden did not name his Game 1 playoff starter on Tuesday, but it wouldn’t be surprising for Hildeby to be given runway to play as many games as possible, barring injury or a downturn in performance. The organization wants him to take on responsibility.
“That’s the goal, that’s what you want: You want to play, so that’s what I’ll be fighting for,” Hildeby said of possibly starting.
Winning a few playoff rounds could drastically alter his future with the Leafs. Hildeby has struggled in his last two AHL playoff stints. Backstopping a team through multiple playoff rounds should have the next Leafs management group looking at Hildeby as less of a “break in case of emergency” option and more of a full-time NHLer.
We know Hildeby can stop pucks at the NHL level. His .914 save percentage through 20 NHL games this season stands out. Can he do it in continual must-win games? If he can, does that force the next Leafs management group to make a change to the goaltending position?
If the Leafs stick with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, they should also carry three goalies next season to protect against injuries. It’s then worth wondering if Hildeby is ready to become a full-time NHL back-up who can handle 30+ games a season. Proving as much during the playoffs could make the Leafs consider moving Stolarz’s contract or fetching a higher return for Joseph Woll, should they want to explore moving him.
