The Maple Leafs have wrapped up their 2025 draft by selecting left-shot winger Matthew Hlacar of the Kitchener Rangers with the 217th overall selection.
The seventh round is an exercise in bargain bin shopping for the most unlikely fliers that could maybe help the team somewhere way down the road if everything went right. Hlacar certainly fits that bill and then some as an overage prospect (May 2006 birthday) who scored just eight points in 43 games in the OHL last season with Kitchener.
The Leafs are clearly prioritizing size today, as Hlacar checks in at 6’3 and 205 pounds, joining the 6’4/196 Rylan Fellinger, the 6’4/180 Harry Nansi, the 6’4/219 William Belle, and the 6’3/190 Tinus Luc Koblar from today’s selections.
Born in Binbrook, Ontario (southeast of Hamilton), Hlacar played with the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs and then the St. Catharines Falcons of the GOJHL up through the 2023-24 season. This past season, he made the jump to the OHL, where he wasn’t a high-scoring player nor a full-time member of the Kitchener lineup. Hlacar does not appear to have been on anyone’s draft radar, with no scouting reports available online from any of the major prospecting sites.
What is available about Hlacar seems to suggest a player whose entire appeal is wrapped up in his size and physicality. In the press release from Kitchener upon signing Hlacar as a free agent in May 2024, General Manager Mike McKenzie said, “(Hlacar) showed well at the camps he has attended with us and had a solid season in the GOJHL. He uses his size and strength well on the ice and plays a hard game.”
Hard may be a bit of an understatement, as an article from The Waterloo Region Record discusses Hlacar working with former professional boxer Steve Molitor to hone his fighting skills in order to stay in the Kitchener lineup. Hlacar was also suspended for five games in March for an illegal check in a game against the North Bay Battalion.
The simplest read of this selection is that the Maple Leafs spent a seventh-round pick on an enforcer. A bit curious, for sure, although the seventh round is full of wild picks, some of them done as favours to scouts in the organization by drafting players those scouts personally have connections to. The probability that any seventh rounder becomes an NHL regular is extremely low, and if it happens for Hlacar, my guess is it would come in the form of a shorter version of Matt Rempe.
Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Leach on Matthew Hlacar
Leach: He is a really hard-nosed, competitive, big man. He skates well and gets in there. He is really a unique element. He likes to play in your face.
Matthew Hlacar Video
Matthew Hlacar Statistics
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | TP | PIM | Playoffs | GP | G | A | TP | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | Niagara North Stars U18 AAA | SCTA U18 | 32 | 24 | 18 | 42 | 56 | | | Playoffs | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 10 |
| Georgetown Raiders | OJHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |||||||
| St. Catharines Falcons | GOJHL | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | | |||||||
| 2023-2024 | St. Catharines Falcons | GOJHL | 48 | 16 | 22 | 38 | 42 | | | Playoffs | 9 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| 2024-2025 | Kitchener Rangers | OHL | 43 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 62 | | | Playoffs | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 38 |
