Maple Leafs forward prospects Tyler Hopkins and Harry Nansi signed amateur tryouts with AHL Toronto on Monday, the team announced. They can’t be directly “assigned” to the AHL after completing their junior seasons, as the Leafs haven’t yet signed them to their entry-level contracts, but this will still allow each of them to make their pro debuts this season after their Ontario Hockey League playoff runs both concluded in sweeps last week.
Hopkins, 19, was Toronto’s third-round pick in 2025 out of Kingston. He was dealt to Guelph midway through this season, with whom he tallied a 13-12–25 scoring line in 27 games down the stretch. He was their only player to score multiple goals in what ended up being an aggressive dispatching by Windsor, which outscored Guelph 21-5 in the four-game series.
The Leafs can wait until June 1, 2027, to sign Hopkins before losing his rights. No matter if they ink him now or this offseason, he’ll be heading back to Guelph in the fall. A 6’1″ pivot with good two-way instincts, he tallied 50 points in 56 games this year across his stints in Kingston and Guelph and grades out as the #11-ranked prospect in one of the weakest pools in the league, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote last month. Some added muscle could allow him to develop into a potential fourth-line piece with good defensive numbers.
Nansi is arguably the more intriguing talent. He went two rounds after Hopkins last year, but the Quebec native was one of the youngest players in the class with a Sep. 10 birthday and took a giant leap forward this season. After the 6’3″ right winger was limited to seven goals and 23 points in 67 games as a second-year junior player in Owen Sound last season, he finished third on the Attack in scoring this year with a 13-43–56 line in 67 games. He ultimately went pointless in four postseason outings as Owen Sound was also stomped out of the playoffs by Flint, losing their four-game series by an aggregate score of 35-3.
Still, that offensive breakout means he’s climbed into being a top-10 prospect for the Leafs, with Wheeler tabbing him at #6. The question is whether he can develop enough physically – he currently checks in at only 179 lbs – while continuing to improve his skating in hopes of being able to hit as a lower-end top-nine piece someday.