Toronto Maple Leafs prospect in Kingston is starting to look like a true 1C

Photo credit: PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN ELLIS

The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to have a potential hidden gem in recently drafted prospect Tyler Hopkins.

The 2025 NHL Entry Draft was a draft that for the Toronto Maple Leafs initially drew some skepticism over the team’s decision to draft players who had more of a floor or were raw projects rather than upside picks.

The selections came with criticism over the Leafs lack of marquee picks, including lacking a first round pick, making selecting home runs more of a necessity outside of the first round, but instead the Leafs went with riskier selections.

Toronto took players such as Tinus Luc Koblar, Harry Nansi, Will Belle, Rylan Fellinger, & Matthew Hlacar, all of whom lacked offensive upside but carried size and raw potential, although many were also viewed as bottom-of-the-lineup players, or prospects needing a few years to blossom their game.

One selection that broke the trend as a player highly rated with some offensive upside was forward Tyler Hopkins, the Kingston Frontenacs center rated as highly as a middle-second rounder, selected 86th overall by the Leafs.For Dobber Prospects, Sean Crocker wrote recently on Hopkins progress, noting his potential to be a bottom-six forward.

Hopkins finds himself on the incline after logging a 51-point campaign with the Kingston Frontenacs last season. The Maple Leafs continued the trend of selecting hulking centres by drafting Hopkins. His style is very straight forward without any complexities. He lacks the offensive upside to make an impact in a middle-six, so his likeliest outcome is to end up in an NHL bottom-six with potential to become a low-impact low-event type of player.

Who is Tyler Hopkins and why is he highly rated?

Tyler Hopkins was viewed as the most projectable player that the Toronto Maple Leafs took, and the safest pick out of their six.

While the other five picks were players with a low scoring game and have more rawness to their game, Hopkins plays a responsible two-way game while sticking down the middle throughout the year.

A defensive-minded center who does well taking faceoffs and has featured on the Frontenacs penalty kill, Hopkins had been one of the top defensive forwards eligible for the NHL draft last season.

Hopkins had 20 goals, 31 assists, and 51 points in 67 points last season for Kingston, a respectable point tally for a potential NHL bottom-six forward, which Hopkins projects to be at the NHL level if he makes it there, but in the OHL is playing like a number one center.

How Tyler Hopkins is emerging as Kingston’s number-one center

This season, Hopkins hasn’t taken a massive jump statistically, still under a PPG so far with 12 goals, 13 assists, & 25 points in 28 games this season, but what will be a positive to see from Leafs fans is how much his game has progressed beyond the scoresheet.

Data card guru Ryan Ma of Dobber Prospects, along with fellow Dobber scouts James Connelly, Anni Karvinen, & David Saad of EliteProspects, released new player cards using exclusive tracked player analytics to showcase key aspects in projectable player performance.

The stat card for Hopkins grades him as an “A-” grade player, suggesting a potential NHLer, although not a top prospect, but one that could make the league.

What the card shows is that despite a lack of high-end offense, that Hopkins excels as a supporting option who does well creating playmaking opportunities and being an engaged forward, and has been a leader for the team as their top line center.

The card indicates that Hopkins is highly engaged and is impactful as a 200-ft forward, which the eye test is something that would back it up the overall abilities of Hopkins, despite a lack of top-end tools.

With a thin prospect pool like Toronto’s, having reliable prospects who look projectable like Hopkins are valuable to have as depth options to insert in the lineup.

The type of safe, reliable role that Tyler Hopkins plays may not make him a high-end caliber talent that would make a top-six like a Matthew Knies or Easton Cowan, but showcase he’s a reliable two-way center that could excel in the bottom-six, and a possible hard working forward that becomes good value for the third round.

Previously on Hockey Patrol

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Toronto Maple Leafs prospect in Kingston is starting to look like a true 1C

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