Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects Will Play Big Roles at 2022 World Juniors

As we move through the month of December, the hype around the 2022 World Junior Championships is starting to rapidly increase. Teams are starting to release their final rosters, and the discussion around the decisions to keep or cut certain players is growing. The 2022 tournament is shaping up to be a big one. Team Canada will boast the likes of both 2022 projected first overall pick Shane Wright along with 2023 projected top pick, 16 year-old phenom Connor Bedard. Meanwhile, Team Russia will be icing a phenom of their own in fellow 16 year-old Matvei Michkov, who’s projected to be a top-two pick in 2023 along with Bedard.

One of the most fun parts about watching the World Juniors, aside from supporting your home country, is paying attention to the performance of your favourite team’s prospects. Some teams, such as the Carolina Hurricanes, had as many as ten prospects sent to selection camps. The Toronto Maple Leafs, on the other hand, only have three players representing at the tournament after 2020 seventh round pick Ryan Tverberg was one of Team Canada’s final cuts.

While three players isn’t a lot, rest assured the Maple Leafs’ representation is going to be heard throughout the tournament. All three players the Maple Leafs are sending to the tournament will be playing big roles for their teams, and they all have their own unique storyline. If you’re a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, here’s the scoop on who the team is sending and what to expect from each prospect at this year’s tournament.

Roni Hirvonen (Team Finland)

After seeing a considerable amount of time on Finland’s top line along with Florida Panthers prospect Anton Lundell and Los Angeles Kings prospect Kasper Simontaival, Hirvonen will return to represent Finland one final time at this year’s festivities. He finished fourth on the team in scoring last year with six points in seven games, including the goal to punch Finland’s ticket to the semi finals.

FINLAND PULLS AHEAD!

Roni Hirvonen puts Finland ahead 3-2 with just 23.3 seconds to go. pic.twitter.com/Dj1cO35Xum
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 2, 2021

This year, Hirvonen will be serving as Finland’s captain. With the departures of Lundell and Winnipeg Jets prospect Ville Heinola, who served as captain last year, Hirvonen will have some extra responsibility. But given his style of play, I think he’s capable of handling it. Hirvonen was one of Finland’s more clutch players last year and scored some crucial goals for them, and he’s relentless on the puck to the point where it gets under his opponents’ skin.

Hirvonen has had a great season to date with HIFK of Finland’s SM-Liiga, with 18 points through 26 games thus far. He finished last season with 21 points in 54 games for Assat of the same league, and he’s on pace to crush his career high, so it would appear switching teams was the best thing for the Maple Leafs’ 2020 second round pick. Expect him to slot right back into his role on Finland’s top line and improve on last year’s tournament.

Topi Niemela (Team Finland)

If there’s any prospect Maple Leafs fans are going to be watching closely this year, it’s Niemela. The Maple Leafs’ third-round pick in 2020 first made a name for himself at last year’s tournament, when he finished with eight points in seven games. His performance was good enough to earn him defenseman of the tournament honours, and he was a huge factor for the bronze medal-winning Finns.

With the departure of Heinola from the team’s defensive corps, Niemela will without a doubt be Finland’s rock on the back end, especially considering the unit as a whole is relatively inexperienced. What makes Niemela’s role even more important is that he was drafted for the advanced defensive instincts he possessed for his age, which makes his newfound offensive ability that much more of a pleasant surprise.

.@MapleLeafs prospect Topi Niemela scores on the powerplay for his second point of the night against Team USA 🇺🇸🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/bIE5YC6Af4
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 23, 2020

Niemela, who plays for Oulun Karpat of Finland’s SM-Liiga, is currently seventh in league scoring with 24 points in 30 games. He’s also second among defenseman in scoring, only two points behind the highest-scoring defenseman. What Niemela’s been able to do in Finland this year is ridiculously impressive for a 19-year-old, and only makes his presence at the World Juniors that much more intriguing. He’s been taking Finland’s top pro league by storm this year, so one can only imagine what he’ll be able to do with a year’s worth of experience and training under his belt after he was already named the tournament’s top defenseman once.

Matthew Knies (Team USA)

While no Maple Leafs prospects will be representing Team Canada this year, they will have some representation in North America. Knies, who was a second round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2021, is off to a blazing start in his freshman season with the University of Minnesota where he has 16 points in 18 games to start the season.

Maple Leafs’ Tverberg Narrowly Misses Cut

As I mentioned earlier, Maple Leafs 2020 seventh round pick Ryan Tverberg was among the last cuts for Team Canada, which largely had to do with the emergence of Bedard at selection camp. Hockey Canada Director of Player Personnel said that Tverberg was among the most improved players at selection camp and was one of the toughest cuts to make.

Alan Millar calls Ryan Tverberg (TOR) one of the two most improved players in the Hockey Canada program during the evaluation process this year. Said Joshua Roy (MTL) was the other. Difficult cuts.
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) December 13, 2021

With 16 points in 14 games for the University of Connecticut, Tverberg’s development looks to be way ahead of schedule. And despite not making Team Canada, the fact that he was even considered to make the team considering where he was drafted should be seen as a positive sign.

Despite only having three prospects at the World Juniors this year, all three players I mentioned will be worth keeping an eye on as the tournament gets underway in Edmonton and Red Deer. All three will be playing pivotal roles for their teams and will look to do the Maple Leafs’ organization proud. And with fans expected to be back in the buildings, this year’s festivities will be extra fun to keep tabs on.

Team Canada	Players to Watch	Roster
Team USA	Players to Watch	Roster
Team Austria	Players to Watch	Roster
Team Czechia	Players to Watch	Roster
Team Finland	Players to Watch	Roster
Team Germany	Players to Watch	Roster
Team Latvia		Roster
Team Slovakia		Roster
Team Sweden	Players to Watch	Roster
Team Switzerland	Players to Watch	Roster