Two Maple Leafs prospects reportedly ready to turn pro
As teams prepare for training camps next month, we'll begin to get some clarification as to where players throughout the organization stand. Some will be back in junior next season, to be sure, but some also appear to be ready to take the next step in their careers. Such seems to be the case for two Leafs prospects.
For Ty Voit and Braeden Kressler, their time in junior appears to have come to an end. Both players enter their 20-year-old campaigns coming off of 2022-23 seasons in which they posted above a point-per-game.
Kressler, an undrafted forward, posted 25 goals and 52 points in 47 games with the Flint Firebirds last season. Certainly respectable. Voit, on the other hand, lit the OHL on fire, posting 24 goals and 81 assists for 105 points for the Sarnia Sting, finishing 2nd in points across the entire league. Voit was a 5th round pick by the Leafs in 2021.
Per a report on Tuesday, neither Voit, nor Kressler, appear on their OHL team's training camp roster, which indicates that both will make the jump to professional hockey instead of returning to the OHL for what should have been their 5th year. Voit appears poised to play with the AHL's Toronto Marlies this year, while Kressler's situation remains up in the air. There's a chance that he, too, could land in the AHL, but it would seem more likely that he'll at least start in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers.
Both players are viewed as "undersized", each standing 5-foot-9. However, Voit is the much slighter player, weighing in at just 161 pounds to Kressler's 174 lbs (per Elite Prospects). If either wants to have any hope of reaching the NHL, putting on some weight and increasing their strength will be a must, as the odds are already stacked heavily against them in the size department.
There's a pretty substantial jump between the OHL and pro hockey. Whether in the ECHL or the AHL, both Voit and Kressler will be playing against men. Both leagues are much rougher than the OHL and these two prospects will have less time and space with which to work, so a dip in production is certainly expected.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 29 | 148 ANSWERS Two Maple Leafs prospects reportedly ready to turn pro Who do you think makes the NHL first between Ty Voit and Braeden Kressler? | ||
| Kressler | 17 | 11.5 % |
| Voit | 89 | 60.1 % |
| Neither | 34 | 23 % |
| Both in the same year | 8 | 5.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
