With their first selection in the 2025 NHL Draft (the last pick in the second round at 64th overall), the Maple Leafs have gone off the board to select 6’3 left-shot centerman Tinus Luc Koblar out of the Leksand system in the Swedish junior league.
For those wanting a refresher course on how the Leafs ended up picking 64th overall in 2025: The Leafs traded with Anaheim at the 2024 draft to move down from 23rd overall to 31st overall and grabbed the 58th overall in the 2024 draft in the process. They then selected Ben Danford 31st overall and flipped the 58th overall in 2024 for the Panthers’ 2025 second-round selection, while adding a 2024 seventh-rounder (the last pick in the 2024 draft at 225th overall, which became prospect Nathan Mayes).
The Leafs were extremely light on 2025 picks before the pick swap with Florida (and the Timothy Liljegren trade with San Jose in October, and the Conor Timmins & Connor Dewar trade with Pittsburgh in March) due to the picks moved in the Jake McCabe, Ilya Lyubushkin (x2), and Ryan O’Reilly deadline trades between 2022 and 2024. Brad Treliving moved to change that by adding this second-rounder from Florida in 2025.
Unfortunate for the Leafs (for more reasons than one), the Panthers repeated as Cup champions, so the 2025 second-round pick became the last pick in the second round at 64th overall. That means the Leafs technically didn’t net out positively on the margins from the pick swap with Florida at the 2024 draft, based on the draft pick value charts (for whatever it’s worth), but avoiding the prospect of nearly skipping a draft class in 2025 was really the primary aim of the trade.
With the 64th overall pick, the Leafs have selected 6’3 Norwegian centerman out of the Swedish junior league, Tinus Luc Koblar. He’s a toolsy project player, known as a decent skater with a good competitiveness and two-way game for his age and size, but with some rough edges to refine in terms of his skill set in order to produce at a higher level.
The Leafs’ staff would be highly familiar with Koblar from their time spent tracking last year’s fourth-round pick out of the Leksand system, defenseman Victor Johansson. The Leafs’ current Director of Amateur Scouting, Mark Leach, also selected 6’7 defenseman Lian Bichsel, who appeared in 38 NHL games for the Stars as a 21-year-old rookie this season, out of Leksands IF program in the first round of the 2022 draft (18th overall) while Leach was running the draft table in Dallas.
Leafs take a favourite of mine in Tinus Luc Koblar. Big pivot who skates well and shows upside as a two-way impact guy. Like how he drove play along the wall. I think just scratching the surface. Would love to see him in the CHL next year. #NHLDraft
— Brock Otten (@BrockOtten) June 28, 2025
Koblar brings a big frame to the ice surface at a premium position and has shown the ability to use it to puck protect effectively on the walls and drive into the productive scoring areas on the ice:
- 83% of Koblar’s shot attempts this season came from medium- or high-danger areas
- 72% of Koblar’s shot attempts this season came from the slot
(per Scouching’s data)
Koblar is the second-ever Norwegian (he’s Norwegian-Slovenian) drafted by the Maple Leafs, the first being Sondre Olden back in the third round of the 2010 draft.
Tinus Luc Koblar pre-draft rankings:
- Ranked #55 by THN
- Ranked #120 by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY
- Ranked #56 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (EU Skaters)
- Ranked #64 by DOBBERPROSPECTS
Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Leach on Tinus Luc Koblar
Leach: He is a big, strong, 6’4 player who has a unique background. His parents are both Olympians. They did not play the game or were involved in the game of hockey. He took to it. He went off to Sweden to evolve his game.
He just has a very good knack for the net, knack down low, and a knack for playing on the wall. He can pick the puck off the wall and compete in hard areas. He has some pretty good elements to his game.
Tinus Luc Koblar Scouting Report
courtesy of the EP 2025 Draft Guide (BUY NOW)
Tinus Luc Koblar’s a big-bodied center with a rather projectable mechanical base. He employs a deep, steady skating stride and can be deceivingly fast, which he uses to generate value both in transition as a puck carrier and through an imposing forechecking presence.
Tinus Luc Koblar Video
Tinus Luc Koblar Statistics
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | TP | PIM | Playoffs | GP | G | A | TP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-2024 | Leksands IF J18 | U18 Region | 22 | 9 | 23 | 32 | 0 | | | |||||
| Leksands IF J18 | U18 Nationell | 16 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | | | Playoffs | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Leksands IF J20 | U20 Nationell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | ||||||
| Norway U18 | WJC-18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | | ||||||
| Norway U18 (all) | International-Jr | 11 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | | | ||||||
| 2024-2025 | Leksands IF J18 | U18 Region | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | | | |||||
| Leksands IF J18 | U18 Nationell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | | | Playoffs | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Leksands IF J20 | U20 Nationell | 43 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 14 | | | Playoffs | 7 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| Norway U18 | WJC-18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | ||||||
| Norway U18 (all) | International-Jr | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | | | ||||||
| Norway U20 | WJC-20 D1A | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | | | ||||||
| Norway U20 (all) | International-Jr | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | | |
