2025 Top 25 Under 25 Eligibility List

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It's almost that time again, for the T25U25. This will be the 14th year of the event, and the 16th list (there were two in 2012 and 2020).

How does this work? We collect the names of every person signed to an NHL contract with the Leafs or whose rights are held by the Leafs. Eligible players have to be younger than 25 as of July 1 of the current year. We have two votes, one done by the official voters – the writers for the site and some volunteers from you all – and one that is a mass community vote. We then reveal the top 25 by the official votes one on each day into the early part of September.

To revisit the history of all those years, here are two summary posts telling the story:

The last two years of T25 lists have had 36 names on them, this year, it's 38, and because there have been a lot of younger players added in the last two years – albeit with very late draft picks – I did a little culling of the list beyond what is strictly allowed under the rules (there really aren't any rules, just tradition).

There is one player listed in some sources as indefinite rights, and in others as expired, and there are two NCAA players whose rights expire in mid-August who the Leafs will not be signing. I took them off the list.

Age below is as of July 1 of this year.

Player	2024 Rank	Birth Date	Age	Nationality	POS	NHL GP	Draft Year	Draft #
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev	20	September 15, 2000	24.8	Russia	C/W	1	2018	76
Matias Maccelli	N/A	October 14, 2000	24.7	Finland	LW/RW	224	2019	98
Cade Webber	14	January 5, 2001	24.5	USA	LD		2019	99
Henry Thrun	N/A	March 12, 2001	24.3	USA	D	119	2019	101
John Prokop	N/A	May 13, 2001	24.2	USA	D		Undrafted
Dennis Hildeby	7	August 19, 2001	23.9	Sweden	G	6	2022	122
Nicholas Robertson	4	September 11, 2001	23.8	USA	W	156	2019	53
Artur Akhtyamov	12	October 31, 2001	23.7	Russia	G		2020	106
Roni Hirvonen	11	January 10, 2002	23.5	Finland	C		2020	59
Ryan Tverberg	16	January 30, 2002	23.4	Canada	C		2020	213
Jacob Quillan	17	February 2, 2002	23.4	Canada	C		Undrafted
William Villeneuve	21	March 20, 2002	23.3	Canada	RD		2020	122
Topi Niemelä	8	May 25, 2002	23.1	Finland	RD		2020	64
Vyacheslav Peksa	24	August 27, 2002	22.9	Russia	G		2021	185
Joe Miller	NR	September 15, 2002	22.8	USA	F		2020	180
Matthew Knies	1	October 17, 2002	22.7	USA	LW	161	2021	57
Braeden Kressler	NR	January 5, 2003	22.5	Canada	C		Undrafted
Luke Haymes	N/A	July 28, 2003	21.9	Canada	C/LW		Undrafted
Borya Valis	N/A	April 8, 2004	21.2	USA	F		Undrafted
Hudson Malinoski	25	May 19, 2004	21.1	Canada	C		2023	153
Nicholas Moldenhauer	19	May 25, 2004	21.1	Canada	RW/C		2022	95
Blake Smith	N/A	October 5, 2004	20.8	Canada	D		Undrafted
Timofei Obvintsev	23	January 6, 2005	20.5	Russia	G		2024	157
Noah Chadwick	10	May 10, 2005	20.2	Canada	LD		2023	185
Easton Cowan	2	May 20, 2005	20.1	Canada	C	0	2023	28
Sam McCue	NR	October 3, 2005	19.8	Canada	LW		2024	216
Miroslav Holinka	9	November 10, 2005	19.7	Czechia	C/W		2024	151
Ben Danford	5	February 6, 2006	19.4	Canada	RD		2024	31
Victor Johansson	22	April 25, 2006	19.2	Sweden	LD		2024	120
Matthew Hlacar	N/A	May 31, 2006	19.1	Canada	C/RW		2025	217
Nathan Mayes	NR	June 10, 2006	19.1	Canada	LD		2024	225
Matthew Lahey	NR	July 17, 2006	19.0	Canada	LD		2024	200
Alexander Plesovskikh	NR	August 1, 2006	18.9	Russia	LW		2024	152
William Belle	N/A	January 14, 2007	18.5	USA	RW		2025	137
Tyler Hopkins	N/A	January 23, 2007	18.4	Canada	C		2025	86
Rylan Fellinger	N/A	May 16, 2007	18.1	Canada	D		2025	185
Tinus Luc Koblar	N/A	July 21, 2007	18.0	Norway	C		2025	64
Harry Nansi	N/A	September 10, 2007	17.8	Canada	LW		2025	153

The group is overwhelmingly Canadian, and just like in the NHL as a whole, the USA is in second place, although well below the NHL level. The number of Russians is much higher than NHL proportions, as are the Finns.

There are only two first-round drafted players: Easton Cowan and Ben Danford. There are only two players who have ever played a full NHL season: Matt Knies and Matias Maccelli. Nick Robertson has been on the roster for one full season, but was healthy scratched for several games.

The overall age of the players on the list has been getting younger over the years and more than half are now under 22. However, all but one of the goalie prospects is over that age.

In the coming days we'll cover the players who have left and the new ones added, and soon the voting will begin. Time to think about just how deep you'll need to dig to find 25 to rank.

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