The Maple Leafs continue to add to their prospect pool through the college undrafted free agent route, signing Arizona State forward Ryan Kirwan, their third NCAA player of the 2025 spring cycle, to a two-year AHL contract.
Kirwan has signed with the Toronto Marlies on a professional tryout, where he will presumably join the team for the upcoming AHL playoffs.
Kirwan is already 23, a typical age for an NCAA free agent (in contrast to 21-year-old Luke Haymes), and he has played four years of college hockey for two programs. Kirwan began his career at Penn State, playing three years for the Nittany Lions after spending time in the USHL with Green Bay and Madison.
At Penn State, Kirwan was a solid complementary piece but rarely stood out in your author’s viewings of his team as a star producer. Kirwan finished third in points and goals on Penn State as a freshman during the 2021-22 season, when the Nittany Lions were not a particularly strong squad.
Kirwan’s sophomore year (2022-23) saw PSU assemble a very strong team that was one goal away from the NCAA Frozen Four, losing to Adam Fantilli and Michigan in the Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament. On that contending PSU team, Kirwan was a background character, missing a chunk of time and only scoring eight goals and 17 points in 28 games, way down the team list in scoring on a squad that ran three quality scoring lines.
Kirwan’s production bounced back last season as a junior with 26 points, identical to his total as a freshman. He was second on the team in goals and fourth in points, overshadowed by Nashville Predators prospect Aiden Fink, who led the team across the board.
Kirwan’s abilities as a solid goal-scoring forward with decent size (6’2) placed him on UDFA radars during his time at Penn State. Still, it never felt like his production or performance at Penn State were worthy of professional endeavors. Perhaps a change of scenery was all that was needed to unlock Kirwan’s potential; Kirwan decided to take his talents to the desert for his senior year and promptly exploded.
Arizona State secured Kirwan’s services in a transfer decision widely believed to have been influenced by NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) money. Let’s just say it was a beneficial decision. The Sun Devils landed a player who quickly popped into a national star upon arriving in Tempe, helping fuel a successful season that saw ASU join a difficult conference and nearly sneak into the NCAA Tournament. Kirwan produced by far the best season of his NCAA career.
This year, as a senior at ASU, Kirwan scored a staggering 26 goals (double his career high in any season at PSU) in 37 games, alongside 13 assists for 39 total points to achieve the vaunted “point-per-game” moniker. Kirwan’s goal totals put him on national leaderboards: At the time of writing, he is tied for fourth in the NCAA in goals, behind only Ryan Leonard of BC, Joey Muldowney of UConn, and Isaac Howard of MSU. Both Leonard and Howard are first-round picks, while Muldowney was a former sixth-rounder of San Jose. Kirwan’s 39 points are tied for 30th at the time of this publication.
On his own team, Kirwan led the Sun Devils in goals by a wide margin, while his point total was one ahead of Lukas Sillinger (brother of Cole, son of Mike) and Artem Shlaine, who tied with 38. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that College Hockey News has Kirwan playing significantly less per game (16:19) than Sillinger (18:19) and Shlaine (19:22).
From a statistical standpoint, Kirwan’s standout feature is his extraordinarily high-volume shooting. Kirwan took 178 shots this season, meaning his 26 goals came on a reasonable 14.6% shooting clip. That 178 number was 60 more than the next closest teammate(!) and ranks third nationally, behind only the aforementioned Leonard (who plays nearly four minutes more per night) and Western Michigan’s Alex Bump, who has played three more games and plays 2.5 minutes more per night than Kirwan. If we made a shots-per-minute metric among the highest goal-scorers in the NCAA, I’d have to reason that Kirwan would rank either first or second.
So, shooting a lot is a key to his success, but let’s consult the scouts. Elite Prospects’ undrafted free agent guide, which ranked John Prokop 20th and Luke Haymes first, has Ryan Kirwan at 14th. The article noted Kirwan’s aforementioned explosion as a senior and added the following:
A shoot-first power forward, Kirwan’s game revolves around outside speed and drives. If he gets a lane, he’ll go straight to the net. If not, he’ll rip a high-speed wrister from distance. Without the puck, he’s constantly looking for contact, whether that’s crushing open-ice hits or quick picks to create a lane for a teammate.
The directness of Kirwan’s game might lead to some difficulty scoring in the AHL, but he flashes playmaking and more dynamic skills in spurts. If he can lean on those heavier, there’s a chance he will become strong organizational depth.
Chris Peters of Flo Hockey described Kirwan much the same way in his undrafted college free agent guide, sizing him up as a net-driving forward with power and a solid frame who could perhaps top out as a third-line winger in the NHL if everything went right. Like Elite Prospects, Peters describes Kirwan’s game as lacking in flash, but the nose for the net could pay off.
McKeen’s Hockey hits many of the same bullet points in its scouting report on Kirwan. It shouts out Kirwan’s physical game and ability as a shooter, with his size, strength, and shot, making him equally dangerous from the slot and at the net front as either a screener or a rebound collector. They also shout out his work ethic, competitiveness, and general intangibles as a leader before mentioning that his skating and playmaking could use work.
Balancing these three perspectives, a fairly clear view of Kirwan emerges. He’s perhaps not the most skilled or creative player, but a natural goalscorer who plays a pro-style, north-south physical game with decent size will intrigue professional teams.
Notably, Kirwan played in two really good conferences in the Big Ten (at PSU) and the NCHC (at ASU), routinely facing opposition like Michigan, Minnesota, Denver, and WMU. From this standpoint, Kirwan is more regularly battle-tested than Haymes or Prokop out of the ECAC. Kirwan may not have the skill level or mobility to hack it at the professional level — which is why he’s merely an AHL contract — but I see the theory of the case with this player.
Kirwan’s size, physicality, and work ethic mean he should be able to fit in an NHL bottom six from a defensive and stylistic standpoint, should his offense play at that level. It very well may not, but I can see a possible bottom-six forward if everything goes correctly.
Put another way, Bobby McMann has more physical tools (the skating + the size) but was far less developed as a scorer when he left Colgate four years ago, while Kirwan has the production but not the skating. McMann is one of the most remarkable development stories I can remember seeing at the minor-league level, so if it worked for McMann, it certainly could for Kirwan. Of course, the probabilities suggest it likely won’t.
If nothing else, this signing is another example of the Leafs flexing their financial muscle to add intriguing prospects to the pool during a period when the franchise hasn’t made many selections in the NHL Draft.
