Leafs prospect Noah Chadwick officially joins the pro ranks

At just 18 years old, Chadwick signed his entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs a few days before this past Christmas. It wasn't something anyone had really expected given that he was drafted six months prior, especially because he was a sixth-round pick. With the Leafs' aging defensive corps, however, adding to their prospect pool of young defensemen, which features the likes of Topi Niemela and Mikko Kokkonen, was necessary.

The towering 6'4, 200 pound left-shot blueliner wrapped up his WHL season over the weekend with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and will now join the Marlies. The expectation is that we'll see him make his pro hockey debut, but whether he plays in the playoffs or not remains to be seen. Either way, the young defender will gain valuable experience just being around the team and learning from the coaching staff during the Marlies' run.

The obvious size of Chadwick is what will catch their immediate eye, but he has quietly become an offensive dynamo for Lethbridge. This past season, Chadwick 12 goals and 56 points in 66 games, more than 30 points above what he had in 67 games in the 2022-2023 season. However, the thing that should impress Leaf fans the most is his
Willingness to learn, which is something that The Athletic's Joshua Kloke took notice of when he sat down with the 2023 draft pick in January. Kloke noted that, growing up, Chadwick's family was and still is a billet family for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, where he would pick the brains of the players staying with them about their journeys to junior hockey.

After being drafted, Chadwick attended Leafs development camp and took the opportunity to pick the brains of any Leaf that was around - mostly Conor Timmins and T.J. Brodie, to learn more about the game at the pro level.

Chadwick's head coach in Lethbridge, Bill Peters, has no doubt that we will see him in the NHL for one specific reason.

While he is joining the Marlies for the rest of the season, Chadwick will likely return to the WHL for another season and take a crack at representing Canada at the upcoming World Juniors. Chadwick and recently acquired defenseman Cade Webber are the beginning of a new vision of blueline being built by Leafs GM Brad Treliving. The Leafs did not have any defensive prospects with their size until Treliving acquired the pair over his first season with the Leafs.

Obviously, there is a lot of time between now and when we might actually see Chadwick in the National Hockey League, but it's certainly encouraging to see how much he's grown in just one season and how much he continues to get better with each passing game.