Maple Leafs Prospect Rankings 2026: The Names Behind Gavin McKenna

Maple Leafs Prospect Rankings Season Is Under Way, and the Interesting Names Are Not at the Top

Every August the Maple Leafs prospect rankings arrive, and every August the top of the list gets all the attention. This year that is truer than usual: Gavin McKenna went first overall, Easton Cowan is coming off a Calder Cup, and the two of them will absorb roughly all of the oxygen in Toronto's pipeline conversation between now and October.

Both Pension Plan Puppets and The Leafs Nation are mid-run on their annual lists — PPP with its Top 25 Under 25, TLN with its prospect rankings, which currently have Harry Nansi at No. 13 and Victor Johansson at No. 14. The useful reading is not the podium. It is what sits behind it, because that is where you learn whether John Chayka inherited a system or a two-player highlight reel.

Here is what the back half of Toronto's list actually looks like, and what to watch from it this season.

Harry Nansi Had the Best Summer of Anyone in the System

Nansi, a 2025 draft pick, was the clearest winner of July's development camp. Hayley Wickenheiser, who oversaw the camp at Ford Performance Centre, singled him out publicly: "I thought Harry has been our most improved prospect." She described him as "very gifted physically" while noting his skating "still has a ways to go, but it's come a long way."

That is a specific and honest scouting note rather than the usual camp boilerplate, and it identifies exactly the right variable. Nansi's physical tools were never in question. Skating was the gate, and gates that move in one summer tend to keep moving.

Development camp performance is worth very little on its own — it is a handful of skates in July against other prospects, with no defensive structure and no consequences. What matters is the direction of travel across a full year. Nansi at No. 13 on TLN's list with a visible mechanical improvement is a more interesting file than he was in June.

The Defence Prospects Nobody Is Talking About

Toronto's forward pipeline gets the headlines. The defence group behind it is quietly where the volume is, and it is mostly right-shot.

Victor Johansson, taken 120th overall in 2024, is the highest-ranked of the group at No. 14 on TLN's board. The Swedish defenceman is expected to take on a larger role in Sweden this coming season, which is the correct developmental path — more minutes against men beats a premature North American move almost every time.

Yaroslav Fedoseyev turns 19 this fall and is the most intriguing of the recent additions. A right-shooting defender who drew pre-draft attention from prospect writers, he put up 19 points and 61 penalty minutes across 49 combined games between the MHL and the VHL, Russia's second-tier professional league. Splitting time between junior and men's pro at 18 is a meaningful signal.

Hayes Hundley, 21, is a right-shot defender already on an NHL contract who will slot in somewhere in the minors this season. Ethan MacKenzie, drafted in his third year of eligibility, turns 20 shortly and profiles as a solid two-way defender who has committed to North Dakota after four OHL seasons — though he would be AHL-eligible if he chose to turn pro now.

None of these four are going to be top-pairing NHL defencemen. That is not the point. The point is that a functional organization needs a steady supply of players who can fill a third pairing on an entry-level deal, because that is how you afford the top of your roster. Toronto has not had that supply in years.

Landon Sim and the Value of Unsexy Depth

Landon Sim is 22, spent last season on an AHL contract splitting time between the ECHL and the Marlies, and has now earned an entry-level contract with the Leafs. He should be with the Marlies full-time this year.

That is not a headline. It is also exactly the kind of internal promotion that a well-run development system produces — a player who was not drafted into a guaranteed path, played his way from the ECHL onto an AHL roster, and converted that into an NHL contract.

The Marlies just won the 2026 Calder Cup, their second championship and first since 2018, beating the Chicago Wolves in five games. Championship teams need bodies like Sim, and championship environments are where borderline prospects either take a step or reveal that they cannot. Our look at how Toronto won that title covers the group that will now try to defend it.

The Structural Problem: There Is Nowhere to Play

Here is the awkward part of any 2026 prospect ranking, and it applies to nearly everyone outside the top two names.

Chayka spent the summer signing and trading for professional depth — Nick Paul, Colton Sissons, Jack Roslovic, Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger, plus the Emil Andrae addition on the blue line. That is a deliberate strategy and probably the right one for a team trying to win now. It also means the NHL doors are shut, which we broke down in detail in our look at how Chayka's depth signings block the pipeline.

The Marlies roster is similarly crowded. Toronto signed seven players to AHL contracts to reload its Calder Cup depth, and Artur Akhtyamov — the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy winner as playoff MVP after going 15-7 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .923 save percentage in 22 postseason games — is still in the organization as the third goaltender.

Blocked pathways are a good problem in the sense that they mean the NHL roster is decent. They are a bad problem in the sense that prospects stall when they cannot get minutes. The new rule allowing some 19-year-olds into the AHL gives Toronto a little more flexibility with its junior-aged players, but it does not manufacture ice time.

How the Pipeline Actually Ranks

Be honest about the shape of it. The Athletic's summer top-100 had McKenna at No. 1 and Cowan around No. 70, which is roughly the correct read: one elite prospect, one legitimate NHL contributor, and a long tail of depth pieces and projects. We went through that ranking in our breakdown of where Toronto's prospects landed.

That is a below-average system with an above-average headliner. Ten selections at the 2026 draft help the volume problem, and the rebuilt scouting department — Dan Palango as director of amateur scouting, JP Perpich running U.S. amateur, Brad Rossen in research and development, all working under assistant GM Judd Brackett — is a bet that the drafting improves from here.

Scouting rebuilds take three to five years to show up in rankings. Nobody should expect the 2026 draft class to look transformative in an August 2026 list.

What's Next

Watch three things this season. First, whether Nansi's skating gains hold up over a full year against real opposition — summer improvements that vanish by December are common. Second, whether Fedoseyev earns a full-time VHL role rather than bouncing back to junior. Third, whether Tyler Hopkins builds on his World Junior Summer Showcase push into a December roster spot for Canada.

The rookie tournament and training camp will give the first real looks. Toronto opens the regular season Sept. 29 against Montreal, and the honest expectation is that exactly one prospect from this year's rankings — McKenna — plays a meaningful NHL role in 2026-27, with Cowan the likeliest to force the issue after his Calder Cup summer.

Everyone else is playing for 2028. That is what a prospect ranking is actually measuring. You can follow the full system on our players page and track Toronto's picks on the draft page.