We’re back. If you’re new to The Athletic, here’s the deal: Three times a year, I release my ranking (and evaluations) for every single prospect in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.



The criteria are simple: To be eligible for the list, the player must be under 23 years old and either drafted by the team or signed to an NHL contract, without having established themselves as full-time NHL players. Players whose rights have expired, or who are signed to an AHL contract (sorry, Justin Brazeau, Hudson Elynuik, Kristians Rubins and Co.), are ineligible.



This installment features 28 players, down from 29 on the most recent list this past summer. That’s because since adding Aaron Luchuk from the Ottawa Senators in the Nikita Zaitsev trade, Egor Korshkov and Dmytro Timashov have graduated from the list due to age, and in Timashov’s case, promotion to the Leafs.



Overall, the quality of the Leafs’ prospect pool remains weak...