Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Next Up, Memorial Cup

Almost two weeks ago, I wrote a Prospect Report update for the OHL, WHL and MHL playoff finals that were starting with Toronto's prospects involved in three of the league finals.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: The Finals Are Here

Four of Toronto’s prospects are playing in their league’s championship finals, including two who will be facing off against each other.

PPP LeafsBrian S

The finals are now over except for one, but I didn't want to wait too long to post the update for the sake of the one prospect already a champion.

Alexander Plesovskikh

Last time, when I teased the MHL finals I said that despite Plesovskikh's team having the league's best record, they might be in tough against a team who finished just behind them but had much better underlying metrics. Well, maybe I should have trusted the standings a bit more. Spartak took a 3-0 series lead before dropping the next two games, but they'll have a chance to clinch the championship on Thursday morning.

For his part, Plesovskikh has been humming along as he has all playoffs. He's playing on their top line in a supporting role, with two goals and an assist in the four games so far in the series and 8 goals and 13 points in 18 total playoff games. That's actually good for 8th in the MHL for playoff points and 2nd in the league for playoff goals. He's getting time on the powerplay and sometimes the penalty kill, and is on the ice to defend a lead late in the game.

One common thing I've seen from Plesovskikh in this run is how good his off puck movement is, specifically to get open in dangerous areas of the ice. He'll fade away from the play then sneak back into soft spots of the ice behind the defense, he'll weave his way in weird looking routes but it's so he can time his arrival in front of the net perfectly where there is a small window where he can receive a pass before the defenders can block the pass or tie him up.

Easton Cowan

Cowan and the London Knights were only one close loss in game one of the OHL finals from having a perfect playoff run. And honestly, they lost that game more than Oshawa won it. They took so many dumb penalties, the powerplays were 9-3 for Oshawa, and their two powerplay goals including the game winner was the difference.

Beyond that game, however, this series was still all London and again was led by Easton Cowan. He had 5 goals and 12 points in the 5 games in the finals, finished with the most points in the playoffs with 13 goals and 39 points in just 17 games, broke London's all time playoff points record, and finishes his OHL career with the second most playoff points (96 in 60 games) all-time in OHL history. That's a testament to both how good Cowan has been in the playoffs in his junior career, but also how good London has been that they've made runs to the OHL finals three years in a row – and won the last two.

Weirdly, Cowan did not win the playoff MVP award. That went to his teammate Kasper Halttunen, who was undeniably great scoring 8 goals in the finals alone. But Cowan only had 2 fewer goals in the playoffs than Halttunen, and had 19 more points, and played a top role in all situations with heavier minutes compared to Halttunen's more specialized role. I've seen numerous theories why the voters may have chosen to go that way – Cowan fatigue, recency bias with the goals, wanting to hype up imports to the league because they're losing players to the NCAA now, and more. Regardless of the reason, Cowan was definitely deserving of the MVP.

Next up, Cowan and London are heading to Rimouski for the Memorial Cup. They will be competing with the hosts, Rimouski who are still playing for the QMJHL championship against the other Quebec team at the Memorial Cup, Moncton. The fourth team is the WHL champion, Medicine Hat, who won pretty easily in five games and I think will be London's biggest threat.

The Memorial Cup will be due to start on Friday, with London starting on Saturday. Here's their schedule:

• Saturday May 24th at 6:00 pm EST vs Moncton
• Sunday May 25th at 6:00 pm EST vs Rimouski
• Tuesday May 27th at 7:00 pm EST vs Medicine Hat
• Round robin tie breaker (if needed) – Thursday May 29th at 7:00 pm EST
• Semi-finals – Friday May 3oth at 7:00 pm EST
• Finals – Sunday June 1st at 7:00 pm EST

Ben Danford

It was another year of heartbreak for Danford and the Oshawa Generals, losing in the OHL finals for the second straight year to the London Knights. I did predict the series would be closer, and they did manage to win one game and keep each game generally closer. But in the end they just didn't have the same depth and number of true stars in the OHL to withstand London's firepower.

I will say, Danford seemed to be hard matched to London's top line with Cowan. It is easy to look at how many goals and points Cowan got and say that he absolutely owned Danford, but I wouldn't actually say that. Cowan was simply that good, and Danford battled him hard all series. It was a great series to watch if you like seeing a true best on best.

Danford finishes his playoff run with 2 goals and 5 points in 21 games. As Oshawa's captain, he'll be returning for another year with some of their best players still around to make another run. He could make the jump to the NCAA, which other top OHL players who have already been drafted to the NHL have been doing instead of returning for a D+2 season. I think he'll make that decision after he has a better idea for how good the team is set up for next season, depending on if other important players make that same jump or if the team decides to sell off and rebuild.

Nathan Mayes

I thought Spokane had a chance to win a tough series against Medicine Hat, but they wound up losing in 5 games. What didn't help was Medicine Hat, who were already good enough to be steamrolling their way through the playoffs, got TWO players back from long term injuries who were first round draft picks to the NHL – one was a top five pick! So they were already stacked, and got even more stacked. Spokane had some truly great stars, but didn't have that same depth.

Mayes finished a very good playoff run with 12 points in 20 games, a big increase in his point production rate from the regular season, which was already a big increase from the rate his previous season. He was a second pairing guy who did a solid job having a very good (but not elite) two way impact. He'd move the puck up well, he'd chip in on offense with accurate shots from the point, jumping into the play, and kickstarting a rush. He'd play a reliable defense with a mix of physical and stick checking to shut down cycles. He was not among the best defensemen on his team, or in the playoffs as a whole, but for a 7th round pick I think he made some big improvements.

What's next for him is up in the air in a similar fashion as Danford, I'd say. Spokane is also losing some of their top players, including their big trade acquisition in Andrew Cristall, who will be turning pro or aging out of junior. But they will be keeping a lot of their top guys, unless of course some of them make the NCAA jump. Mayes doesn't have the same guaranteed top spot or the captaincy like Danford does, and honestly I could see the NCAA being a good challenge for him. On the other hand, he hasn't yet established himself as a top defenseman in junior like even Chadwick did, so another year wouldn't hurt him there.

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!