Maple Leafs Prospect Report: November 18th News and Stars

I've decided I like this format, but I'll make an adjustment to include any little news or updates concerning Toronto's prospects. If they're traded, moved to a different league, injured, had their role on the team changed, etc.

But I'll still highlight the top performances, so let's get to it!

Miroslav Holinka

Last week: 1 goal, 4 assists (5 points) in 3 games
Season to date: 10 goals, 18 assists (28 points) in 20 games

After having a few really big games a few weeks ago, Holinka has been quieter of late. He had a pretty tame five point week, with a lot of the points being secondary assists on the powerplay or empty net points. On the other hand, he's getting these points because he's so involved in the play in these situations. He's still tied for the team lead in points, with fewer games played, but he's not massively far ahead like he was for a while. His point pace is also still well ahead of what it was last season, making it a nice improvement.

Tyler Hopkins

Last week: 1 goal, 3 assists (4 points) in 3 games
Season to date: 8 goals, 9 assists (17 points) in 20 games

After going without a point for five straight games on a pretty rough stretch for Kingston, where they lost all five games by a combined score of 19-6, Hopkins had a nice bounceback this weekend including a three point game on Sunday to help win their second straight game, and third in four games. Hopkins slowing down did align strongly with the team as a whole, and they've tried mixing up the lineup to find something that would get the offense going, but even with the pointless stretch he's still second on the team in goals and points.

Nick Moldenhauer

Last week: 1 goal, 2 assists (3 points) in 3 games
Season to date: 3 goals, 5 assists (8 points) in 14 games

Moldenhauer has had a rough ride in his NCAA career. So far this season, he's at least bouncing back from his pretty disastrous sophomore season, but he's still not at a particularly high level. As of now, he has 8 points in 14 games which is the best pace he's been at in his college career. He's already matched his goal total from last year, too, after putting up 1 goal and 3 points in a pretty big two game series against Gavin McKenna and Penn State where each team took one game. Moldenhauer seems to have settled in more of a defensive and PK specialist role, with some small time on the powerplay. He plays 11:00-15:00 per game in that role, where it looks like what offense he provides is just gravy.

News & Notes

Harry Nansi – Nansi didn't have as big of a weekend as he's had the past two weeks, but he's at least continued his 8 game point streak going with one assist in both of his weekend games on Friday and Saturday. He also threw a big open ice hit and got into a fight as a result, because of course. He's up to 31 points in 22 games, which is still good for a tie for 5th in the OHL.

Rylan Fellinger – Meanwhile, after Fellinger finally got his first points of the season last weekend, he had two straight games with one assist this weekend in two wins for Flint, including an overtime win over the OHL leading Brantford and another over Owen Sound. He has five points in 20 games this season, which is only two back of his total in 64 games last year.

Alexander Plesovskikh – Plesovskikh finally returned from his period not playing (I assume due to injury). He was eased into it with lower than usual ice time, but had two goals in his second game back and then 20+ minutes in his third.

Victor Johansson – On the other side of that, Johansson has once again gone AWOL. He was with the Allesvenskan team he was loaned to for a while, then played one game for Leksands in the SHL before he left for Sweden's U20 mini-tournament for four games. Since that ended, however, he hasn't returned to either the SHL team or the Allsvenskan team, while Koblar has returned back to Leksands. So... not sure if he got banged up for what.

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!