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Ranking Prospects 2025-26

TLN 20. Borya Valis

In case you missed it, Borya Valis was a free agent signing out of the WHL back in March. He finished his final season with the Prince George Cougars putting up 80 pts in 66 GP. He's a 6'2" RW that plays an energy game and likes to go to the net with the puck; it started translating to production more recently. You can treat him like a draft pick from the Fraser Minten year that is now graduating to Marlies duty.

PPP has a slightly more in-depth profile on him.

Even if he doesn't pan out to NHL viability, it's good to see this front office pursuing this player profile: right shot forechecker with some skill is a niche that this team desperately needs given its current glut of zippy little LWs. Who wouldn't want a (much) cheaper and younger Josh Anderson?
 
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TLN 19. Hudson Malinoski

He was already a very long shot at the draft when he was selected D+1 in Rd 5 because of his grievous accident injury when he was younger, so just even playing hockey is gravy. Production in his sophomore season with Providence was numerically similar (+2G, +3A) and he did lead the team in points per game (23 in 35GP) and tied for the lead in Goals (11G). He was still a bit of a menace down low at the net front (esp PP), so if his skating and strength continue to develop, it'll be nice to have a LW/centre with a penchant for greasy goals.
 
TLN 18. Cade Webber
I was hoping he would click with Topi Niemela, but then Topi didn't really take any steps forward, and Webber is basically at the point where all he can do is fine tune timing with experience and maybe add more strength. Feels like a tweener unless he can handle the puck just enough to shed forecheck layer 1 routinely.
 
TLN 17. Sam McCue

He popped off this past season, playing higher in the lineup across two teams and generally just causing chaos and potting uggo goals with some regularity. On paper, his playstyle should translate to playoff performance, but so far, that has not borne out on the ice. It just means at this time, he's not quite a driver yet and the rest of his team was a meh playoff group (with fellow Leafs pickup Blake Smith, and draft pick Ryan Fellinger). He could still very well be a solid third banana in a top 6 line, like Knies but less skilled, or a heavy bottom 6 presence; think Lorentz but meaner. Not a bluechipper by any means, but more promising than most 7th rd picks tend to be.

He's moved onto a new team for the upcoming season, Brantford.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Curious to see how long this goes before there's finally a player I'd have put before Valis. I think he's pretty low on this list at 20.
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I don't disagree. I do have some skepticism about WHL production, and he was the max age for junior, so there's some caveats there. 3rd line rush/greasy finisher would be very nice. I don't think he will be playing centre.

 
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