Maple Leafs Prospect Report: NCAA and USHL Check-In

The Maple Leafs have looked to the USHL and other NCAA feeder leagues for the past five years. Nick Abruzzese, Veei Miettinen, Joe Miller, Ryan Tverberg... and, of course, Matthew Knies. But aside from Knies, there hasn't really been a major prospect in Toronto's system to go the NCAA route in this time. It's typically been mid to late round picks, which honestly isn't a bad idea since they have a longer period of time to follow before they have to sign or let them go.

So, let's see how Toronto's current crop of prospects in the NCAA and feeder leagues have been faring.

Hudson Malinoski

Malinoski was Toronto's 5th round draft pick in 2023 out of the AJHL, but he immediately joined Providence College in the NCAA. Providence is not one of the top schools in college hockey, or even in the Hockey East conference. But they have been a competitive team in the next tier below the Boston Colleges and Boston University's.

The team plays a system focused on working hard, defending well, and playing a tight system – likely because they're devoid of top recruiting talent like the other top schools. Malinoski, in fact, was one of only a few prospects drafted by NHL teams, and all of them were taken in the later rounds. That changed this year after they got some decent guys in John Mustard and Trevor Connelly.

Through this all, Malinoski has firmly been Providence's second line centre. He gets top powerplay time, and a bit of penalty kill time. Most of his offensive production has come with the man advantage, while at even strength he plays very much to the Providence system – forecheck, backcheck, grind things out.

However, he has been on the best short stretch of his NCAA career of late. In his last two games, he has 4 goals and 2 assists, which has helped him match his career high in points (18) in 10 fewer games. He has taken a small step in terms of offensive generation for the team, after a lot of their old seniors graduated and a new influx of younger guys joined the roster. He's not going to score three points per game the rest of the year, but it would be nice if this stretch could be a sign of sustained improvement through the rest of the season.

Nick Moldenhauer

Moldenhauer, while a year younger than Malinoski, was also an NCAA freshman last season. He was playing on a very deep Michigan team, who are a perennial top program in the NCAA, in arguably the best and deepest conference. He played most of the year in the bottom six with some powerplay time, and looked okay but nothing spectacular. His stat line reinforced that, with 8 goals and 21 points in 41 games last year.

This year he's had a bigger opportunity. Five of the team's top six producing forwards turned pro, and there was a bigger role that Moldenhauer could have earned. Instead, if anything he's looked worse than last year despite playing a lot with their top producing forward, Michael Hage. Not only does he not look that effective in the time he occupies on the ice, but his production has dipped despite getting that bigger opportunity to start the year – 1 goal and 8 points in 22 games just is not good. He's currently on pace for only 15 points over a full season, but he's also missed chunks of the season due to injury.

Needless to say, it's been a bit of a nightmare season for Moldenhauer.

Matt Lahey

Lahey was one of the two New Age Large Adult Sons that the Maple Leafs drafted in the seventh round this past summer. Lahey is the one that had stronger scouting reports for his skating, defense, and (limited) offensive potential, but so far this season from what I've seen, I've liked the look of the other (Nathan Mayes) more.

I watched a chunk of Lahey early in the year to get a better feel for him as a player, especially in a tougher league (USHL) than where he was last year (BCHL). To me, he just looked like he occupied space on the ice rather than having a real impact on the play in any sense. His defense seemed passive which doesn't project well for me, he wasn't really using his size, he wasn't that physical, and whatever positive that had been said about his offensive potential seemed to be non-existent. He has 2 goals and 11 points in 39 games as a D+1 guy despite being a top pairing defenseman getting a lot of minutes.

I have intentionally avoided watching much of Lahey since the first month of the season, hoping I'd see some statistical improvement that could signal an improvement in the rest of his play. Maybe he just needed time to adjust to the league? Well, I've still been waiting. If you want a glimmer of hope, his most recent game as of me writing this he had his first multi-point game and the goal was honestly a very pretty highlight.

The issue is, that's the first time he's shown the ability to carry the puck, use the space given to him, and fire that good of a shot. Not even in isolation have I seen any of that, let alone doing it all once in one play. So hey, maybe that's a sign he's getting more confident and putting things together.

Joe Miller

Miller has been one of my sleeper/underrated prospects in Toronto's system the past few years. He's played on a not great Harvard team, especially after his freshman season, but took on a bigger role without a lot of support and showed signs of improvement in all areas of his game. His biggest issue has been just being too small. He's listed as 5'10", but I don't believe that – what I do believe is that despite now being 22 years old, he's still only listed as 165 lbs.

While he is not a complete perimeter player like others who are so small (cough Ty Voit cough) his effectiveness is limited as a result, and that will be even worse if and when he turns pro. So far this season, it's been easier to see that limitation – he is below his usual pace of production, especially in filling the net, with only 4 goals and 16 points in 22 games.

At his age, it's not likely we'll see any significant improvements from Miller, not in terms of suddenly packing on muscle nor in terms of adding a greater impact on the ice offensively or defensively. I still like Miller for his brain and playmaking, and honestly some underrated goal scoring touch. I can see him still being worth a contract and he'd make a decent Marlie, but I'm not seeing an NHL from him.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!