The waiver wire is an interesting thing to keep tabs on. For the most part, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a pretty boring history of activity on the waiver wire, but every so often, there’s the possibility of finding a diamond in the rough. Take Curtis McElhinney, for example, who the Leafs claimed off waivers from the Columbus Blue Jackets midway through the 2016-17 season. He went on to do a stellar job backing up Frederik Andersen en route to the team’s first playoff berth in a full season since 2003-04.
All of this is to say that the waiver wire is always something worth keeping an eye on throughout the season. The potential to find gems cast away from other teams is equal to the possibility of losing somebody on your favourite team that you might want to keep. And the Maple Leafs have a handful of players who will lose their waiver eligibility next season.
Before we dive into that, let’s get a little refresher on how waiver exemption works courtesy of PuckPedia.
Note that only one of these four needs to be met for a player to lose exemption status.
Roni Hirvonen
The Maple Leafs selected Hirvonen in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft, where the Finnish forward established a reputation as a hard worker with pesky tendencies and some sneaky offensive ability. He unfortunately ran into some adversity immediately upon his arrival in Toronto, suffering a concussion at 2023 development camp that kept him out of activities until mid-October. After that, he took a stick to the eye in only his second AHL game with the Toronto Marlies, but despite both setbacks, he made his way back to pro hockey as the calendar flipped to 2024.
With 21 points in 54 games so far for the Marlies in 2024-25, Hirvonen would need to have a blazing hot start to next season to be considered a call-up candidate for the Leafs, but at only 23 years old, he’s young enough that a team would probably be willing to give him a shot.
Mikko Kokkonen
Selected in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft, Kokkonen has always been a high floor, low ceiling type of player. He’s never been a whiz offensively, but his hockey IQ and defensive game got him selected in the early rounds of the draft and helped him find his footing in North America.
Kokkonen has 13 points in 47 games in his third full season with the Marlies, and given his place on the Leafs’ back end depth chart, it’s unlikely the team jumps to call him up unless, like it would be for Hirvonen, he catches fire at the start of next season. He’s young enough that another team might take a chance on him, but the chances of him being claimed at any point past this season feel relatively low.
Topi Niemela
Niemela has had one of the most up-and-down paths of any prospect in the Maple Leafs’ system. Like Kokkonen, he’s a former third round pick of the Maple Leafs and was selected for his high hockey IQ and sound defensive instincts. In his post-draft year, he had a breakout season with 32 points in 48 SM-Liiga games, prompting some to believe he might have more to give from an offensive standpoint.
Although he had a solid rookie AHL season in 2023-24, posting 39 points in 68 games, he’s struggled to replicate that success in 2024-25. He has only one goal and 20 points in 58 games with the Marlies, and it feels like his name has been floated more in trade rumours than any other prospect still with the team, and yet, no trade has ever materialized with him. He could be a call-up candidate, and thus, a waiver claim candidate if he channels his success from his rookie season and build on it, but it feels more likely that the Leafs give him a fresh start elsewhere, especially with Chris Tanev and now Brandon Carlo locked into NHL roles.
William Villeneuve
Villeneuve is the most intriguing prospect on this list and one the Maple Leafs could consider getting into a game or two towards the end of the season once their playoff position is sealed in place. Selected in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Villeneuve possessed some intriguing offensive abilities from the back end, but it was his defensive game that held him back. So, when he joined the Marlies and posted two 25-point seasons in 54 games back-to-back, many wrote him off as a contender for an NHL job.
It’s been different for Villeneuve in 2024-25. He’s having the type of season most expected Niemela would, with 34 points in 49 games. If he builds on this season and continues to elevate his game into next season, he could be an unlikely call-up candidate, but that would come with the risk of losing him on waivers. Whether or not any teams show interest depends entirely on how he does to start next season, whether he gets a call-up, and whether he performs well enough to stay up with the big club. There are a lot of factors that have to play out, but there’s some interesting upside in this player that rebuilding teams might value.
Overall, it’s extremely hard to gauge how prospects like the one above will be valued around the league this time next year. For every prospect that makes it through the waiver wire without fail, theres a Dryden Hunt type that gets claimed by a team simply looking to try somebody new. Overall, the fact that there’s nobody the Leafs might be counting on to fill a roster spot at risk of being lost through waivers is a good problem for the team to hav.
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