For the second time in as many days, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed a college free agent, this time inking 23-year-old right-shot forward Brandon Buhr to a one-year contract.

This is the second consecutive season that the Maple Leafs signed a product of Union College, after snaring defenseman John Prokop in the last cycle. Buhr will begin his professional career with the Toronto Marlies on an Amateur Tryout Agreement this season.

Unlike yesterday’s signing (Vinny Borgesi), Buhr traveled a more traditional path for a college free agent. The B.C. native played U18 hockey in Vancouver until he graduated high school, at which point Buhr jumped to the BCHL, where he played three seasons, typical of the sort of player who ends up as a UDFA. All three seasons were spent with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, where his production was fairly consistent, hovering around a point per game.

The BCHL is a high-scoring league; its top prospects usually average 1.75-2.0 points per game (e.g., Kent Johnson’s final BCHL season: 101 points in 52 games). Buhr’s production was fine, but it was definitely the sort of stat line that signals a player is headed for one of the NCAA’s less prestigious universities. That’s exactly what happened, albeit in a bit of a bumpy fashion.

After two seasons with Alberni Valley, Buhr attempted to make a leap to Clarkson University of the ECAC for the 2022-23 season, when he was 20 years old. That plan went awry; Buhr played nine games without recording a point before leaving the team to return to the BCHL. This isn’t unheard of in college hockey; it is fairly common for a player to enroll in college but leave the team midway through their first season if they aren’t seeing substantial playing time.

We don’t have time-on-ice numbers for that season, but given that Buhr produced zero points and left the team, it’s reasonable to assume his opportunity was limited. He returned to the BCHL and then tried again the following season, suiting up for a different ECAC school, Union College, at age 21.

This time, the transition to the NCAA went much more smoothly. Buhr scored 24 points in 35 games (11 goals) in his first season with Union, third on his team in goals and fifth in points (the team leader was the aforementioned Prokop). In his second season, Buhr’s production jumped up to 19 goals to lead the team. His 28 points were one shy of the team lead, and he was named Third Team All-ECAC for his efforts.

Entering his senior season, Buhr was expected to be one of the top players in the conference again, and that’s exactly what happened. He matched his career best of 19 goals but upped his assists to 17, totaling a team-best 36 points. Those 36 points left Buhr tied for sixth in ECAC scoring, and he was named Second Team All-ECAC.

For those unfamiliar, the ECAC is a mid-level college hockey conference — not as strong as the Big Ten (Michigan, MSU, Minnesota), NCHC (North Dakota, Denver, Western Michigan, Duluth), or Hockey East (BC, BU, Providence), but also not a mid-major, either. There are some good players with NHL futures, particularly at Quinnipiac (where current Maple Leaf Jacob Quillan played) and Harvard (Adam Fox and Matt Coronato are among recent alums), but there are also a number of small schools with tiny budgets that are among the worst in college hockey.

Union is a mid-level squad; they won a national title back in 2013-14 behind the incredible play of Shayne Gostisbehere, but they’ve only made the NCAA Tournament once since. The Garnet Chargers (yes, that is their nickname) typically finish in the middle of the ECAC and therefore somewhere in the middle of the 63 D1 hockey teams.

Bobby McMann played at Colgate, which is in the same conference and is often in the same tier as Union (if not worse), so making the leap from such a program to pro hockey is certainly doable. Notably, the ECAC is a tight-checking, low-event league, and Buhr’s goal-scoring clips in that context are excellent, as he finished third in the conference in goals in 2024-25 and tied for fifth this past season.

There seem to be varying opinions on Buhr among scouts. While he does not appear in Corey Pronman’s list of the top undrafted free agents, nor Daily Faceoff’s 10-player list of top free agents, he sat all the way up at fourth on the Elite Prospects UDFA ranking.

In contrast to Borgesi, Buhr is a bigger boy at 6’2 and 205 lbs., which the Elite Prospects scouting report believes could be a significant asset to his NHL projection, praising his “unique combination of speed, size, and skill.”

Like Borgesi, Buhr appears to hang his hat on his skating tool:

“Skating is Buhr’s biggest advantage over the NCAA competition – his strides and crossovers are separating. He plays a fast, direct game with some inside cuts and flashy moves mixed in, all emphasizing getting to the net.”

– EP

When you combine the skating ability with a shot that allowed him to score over 0.5 goals per game in a low-scoring league each of the past two seasons (career shooting percentage by season in the NCAA: 15.7%, 20.2%, 17.0%), it makes for an intriguing profile. Buhr’s passing ability may not rate as highly, but a good wrist shot, size, and plus-mobility are a package to work with. The Elite Prospects profile also noted his physicality and willingness to battle around the net, but it added that Buhr’s defensive game will need to improve.

For a more statistical look at Buhr, here is his player card from Gabriel Foley, who does a lot of NCAA micro-stat tracking:

Altogether, Buhr’s best-case scenario appears to be in the McMann mold: a bigger body who combines strong skating ability and a good shot to forge a solid NHL career. McMann’s development story is incredibly rare, but it’s worth noting that Buhr won’t have to come as far. McMann seldom scored at Colgate, whereas Buhr was a top scorer in that same conference. McMann started in the ECHL, whereas Buhr can jump straight to the AHL. But the idea is the same.

Buhr will need to leverage his size, lean into his physicality, and improve defensively to play in the Maple Leafs‘ bottom six. If his shot translates at the pro level, his size and skating likely will, too, and there could be an intriguing two-way checking winger down the line.

Turning 24 in the summer, the clock is ticking, but signing Buhr is a reasonable bet, as the Leafs have enjoyed some success with developing this genre of UDFA in recent years — not just McMann, but Mason Marchment and Alex Steeves as well (albeit Steeves is smaller). That said, those latter two names remind us that the franchise has only been so prudent in assessing which of its minor league development prospects will have an NHL future.

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