One Maple Leafs prospect could be the team's next breakout star
Maple Leafs prospect Noah Chadwick is fresh off a World Junior Summer Showcase for Team Canada, and is ready to prove he can take the next step in the NHL.
It's officially the middle of summer and fans are getting anxious for their teams to return to action. While the majority of Toronto Maple Leafs fans will have their eyes peeled on prospects Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten next month, there is another player that seems to have been forgotten and who can become the team's next big superstar, and that's Noah Chadwick.
Noah Chadwick was initially drafted by the Leafs in the 6th round during the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. Normally a player taken in the 6th round likely doesn't have a stellar NHL career, if any at all, however as we've seen in the past, there have been some major exceptions, such as when the Detroit Red Wings selected Henrik Zetterberg in the 7th round. Zetterberg would go on to have 960 points in 1,082 games, all with Detroit.
Noah Chadwick is 6-foot-4 and has shown tremendous growth in the Western Hockey League (WHL) over the last few years with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. In his first season in 2021-22, he only managed three points in 13 games. That was followed up by 20 points in 67 games the season after, and then he ultimately went on a tear last season, scoring 12 goals and 56 points in 66 games.
It appears that Noah Chadwick will be named captain of the WHL's Hurricanes this season, which will be his 4th season with the team. He was an assistant captain last season and has shown a ton of leadership qualities.
At only 19-years-old, Noah Chadwick is on a very lovely path, and he has tremendous work ethic and very good hockey IQ. Chadwick has been known by scouts to be very intelligent on the ice, so all of these amazing characteristics prove he is going to have an absolutely fantastic career one day with the Leafs in the NHL.
It doesn't appear the Noah Chadwick is going to make the Maple Leafs team next season as the Leafs are loaded on the back end at the moment, but that doesn't mean he won't get the opportunity to play in pre-season games. There's no doubt that his captaincy role in the WHL next season is going to do wonders for his game, to help him possibly make the Leafs team in two years from now.
Source: HockeyDB
Henrik Zetterberg & Noah Chadwick Stats
| POLL | ||
Will Noah Chadwick be a top NHL player one day? | ||
| Yes | 131 | 52.8 % |
| No | 117 | 47.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
