Toronto Maple Leafs bring in four young unrestricted free agents for prospect showdown

It's that time of year when the Toronto Maple Leafs will embark on a weekend road trip to Montreal to play against the Canadiens prospects in their usual two-game series that opens up the true start of the hockey season.

Leading the charge for Toronto's rookie squad will be two of their top prospects, Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten, along with defenseman Noah Chadwick, who put up a really strong season in the WHL last year.

Joining them are some other familiar prospect names like Nikita Grebenkin, Roni Hirvonen, Ty Voit, Topi Niemela, Dennis Hildeby, Vyacheslav Peksa, and Artur Akhtyamov. All these players are expected to start the year with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL.

Four of the most recent Toronto draft selections in Ben Danford, Miroslav Holinka, Nathan Mayes, and Sam McCue will also get set to hit the ice, while free agent signings Jacob Quillan, Braeden Kressler, and Cade Webber don the Blue and White, too.

Rounding out the roster are five players on AHL deals: Robert Mastrosimone, Matthew Barbolini, Ryan McCleary, Chas Sharpe, and Sam Stevens. There are also four new free agents that the team has just signed who will be joining as well. Those players are Brandon Lisowsky, an original Leafs draftee who the team once let go, Marshall Finnie, Maxim Muranov, and Rhett Parsons.

The on-ice sessions this week will be run by Toronto Marlies head coach John Gruden and his coaching staff, comprised of assistants Michael Dyck and newly signed Steve Sullivan, as well as goaltending coach Hannu Toivonen and video coach Troy Paquette.

The prospects will have three practice sessions from Wednesday through Friday in order to prepare themselves for the games against the rival Montreal Canadiens.

Source:
Kyle Cushman on X