Toronto Maple Leafs: Top 3 potential unsung postseason heroes

1. Ilya Mikheyev

Every year, the Maple Leafs are aggressive in the international market, bringing in players from overseas. They’ve got players like Par Lindholm and Nikita Zaitsev in the past, but this year, they got a huge surprise from Ilya Mikheyev, who was having a very impressive rookie season before getting injured.

Mikheyev is beloved by Leafs fans for various reasons, including his love for soup, which he turned into an endorsement deal. But he’s not known by many people around the league. If the Leafs go far in the postseason, Mikheyev could emerge as a household name. What makes him even more interesting is he’ll be needing a new contract after this season. So Mikheyev will effectively be auditioning for a job next season, though he’s likely already earned one thanks to his success in his short rookie season.

He came into camp with many people seeing him as a depth forward. But Mikheyev quickly emerged as one of their most consistent and productive forwards. In fact, guess who led the Leafs in 5v5 points per hour? No, it wasn’t Mitch Marner or William Nylander. Nor was it Auston Matthews. It was Mikheyev.

Mikheyev will probably be in a third-line role as the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin. He could give the third line the offensive boost it needs to be a dangerous line.