Toronto Maple Leafs officially have one month to sign top prospect
Photo credit: Dobber Prospects
The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to be losing one of their prospects as their rights to Veeti Miettinen will expire in a month's time.
The 22-year-old forward was drafted in the 6th round by the Leafs back in 2020. Since then, he has had a very successful NCAA career, completing four seasons for St. Cloud State where he scored 118 points in 146 games. Remarkably, he never took a single penalty in his entire career there. In fact, he's never had more than 16 penalty minutes in a season going all the way back to 2015-16.
Veeti Miettinen won't return to St. Cloud State for a 5th season and will turn pro, he confirmed on IG.
He finishes his NCAA career with 53 goals and 118 points in 146 games. Didn't take a single penalty over 4 seasons.
TBD whether he'll join Marlies or go elsewhere.
He finishes his NCAA career with 53 goals and 118 points in 146 games. Didn't take a single penalty over 4 seasons.
TBD whether he'll join Marlies or go elsewhere.
According to Leafs Nation, the team has made a legitimate attempt to sign Miettinen, but clearly, that has not happened yet. As they suggest, this could be because Miettinen has little or no desire to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Latest indication is that the team is more interested in the player than the player is the team
In fact, the 22-year-old has already signed with Kalpa of the Finnish Liiga. This is a pretty strong indication that he won't be signing with the Leafs before his rights expire. As a result, he could potentially go on to have a great season playing pro in Finland and then sign as a free agent with any NHL team of his choosing next summer.
One thing working against Miettinen is the fact that he is just 5'9". Very few players of that size succeed in the NHL. Perhaps he knows the Leafs won't give him a serious chance at the NHL level due to his size alone, which could explain why he is going back to Finland. Still though, he has shown legitimate NHL upside in his time at the NCAA level.
Source: BladeofSteel26 NHL prospects set to have exclusive signing rights expire next month
| POLL | ||
27 JUILLET | 103 ANSWERS Toronto Maple Leafs officially have one month to sign top prospect Do you think the Toronto Maple Leafs will sign Veeti Miettinen before they lose his rights? | ||
| Yes | 33 | 32 % |
| No | 70 | 68 % |
| List of polls | ||
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