We have some positive Maple Leafs news!
Today, the club announced the signing of 2021 fifth-round pick Ty Voit to a three-year, entry-level deal:
🖊 We’ve signed forward Ty Voit to a three-year entry level contract. #LeafsForever
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 19, 2021
Voit leads OHL Sarnia with 29 points — 8G, 21A — through 24 games this season. Many in the public sphere thought the undersized winger was a value pick at 153rd overall. EliteProspect’s group of scouts ranked him 71st overall on their board at the time of the draft.
For a glimpse into Voit’s game, I put together a highlight package from this season a few weeks back and posted it on Twitter, which you can watch below:
Speed, puck skill, creativity, vision, and deception – all attributes that #LeafsForever draft pick Ty Voit has in abundance: pic.twitter.com/uhw2Yg1S96
— Josh Simpson (@joshsimpson77) November 21, 2021
Voit’s calling cards are his nifty stickhandling, deceptive playmaking, and absurd straight-line speed. He’s got terrific vision, seemingly always knowing where everybody else is on the ice. The way he combines this with deception makes him a lethal playmaker at the OHL level. We see pull off hook passes, like this one:
Beauty of a hook pass by #LeafsForever prospect Ty Voit here to set up a goal: pic.twitter.com/4ndlotqc6T
— Josh Simpson (@joshsimpson77) November 14, 2021
Or no-look passes, like this one:
#LeafsForever prospect Ty Voit with three assists last night, bringing him to 26 points in 19 games. Here was his first assist, a nice rush, cut back and no-look drop pass to set up a pretty goal. pic.twitter.com/CGJRiiEVfq
— Mr. Knies Guy (@brigstew86) December 4, 2021
Voit also loves to use stutter steps, head fakes, and changes of pace to add deception to his playmaking game. His 21 assists crack the top 20 assist leaders in the OHL despite playing on a team that is bottom five in the OHL in scoring. He’s really a fun player to watch.
In terms of the knocks on Voit, he’s going to need to bulk up a bit as he’s only 161lbs right now at 5’10 (he is still only 18, so he’s got tons of time to do this). I’d also like to see him score more goals. His eight goals in 24 games is nothing to write home about, and you never see him snipe one from a distance. I think he’s got a good shot that can beat OHL goalies, but he ranks ninth on Sarnia in shots per 60 minutes, according to InstatHockey.
All in all, it’s good for the Leafs to have Voit under contract, and it’s a deserved reward for Voit to sign his first NHL contract before the Leafs even came close to losing his exclusive signing rights.
It’ll be fun to continue to track his progression as a player. The upside here is high.
