Why I Set Up a GoFundMe

So here’s the deal. I watch a lot of Toronto’s prospects over the season, and I rely exclusively on what streaming options are available. In Sweden, Koblar and Johansson will be playing in leagues where I will have to rely on streams that I cannot go back and rewatch. Thankfully, they’re early in the day so I can set my computer to record them and then I go back and rewatch as I need. Plesovskikh and Obvintsev in Russia are in the MHL and VHL, which saves their games as YouTube videos I can rewatch at any time.

The big issue will be Toronto’s prospects in the CHL, of which there are 8 this year. Now that the OHL and WHL have announced they will be on FloHockey/Victory+ respectively, things are getting tricky. First, the economy and my financial situation are not great. I’ve already cancelled a lot of the subscriptions I had to prospect outlets and likely won’t renew them at any point this year. They all add up.

To that end, I’m setting up a GoFundMe specifically and only to cover the cost of an annual FloHockey subscription, which is listed at $200 CAD plus tax. This is actually somewhat good news because it’s cheaper by about $100 than what the previous CHL streaming app subscription cost, and it comes with AHL, USHL and some NCAA games.

Side note, $200 doesn’t sound like a lot but I’ll be honest without getting into details… that is a lot for me these days, and I am cutting corners everywhere. But this is my one big hobby, and I’d like to hang onto this to the extent I have been in previous years (more on that below).

So, here’s what everyone will get if I don’t have the subscription vs if I do.

Without the subscription, how many games I can watch will be reduced by a lot. I will only be able to record and watch one game per time slot. Here’s all the problems with that:

Six of the eight CHL prospects are in the OHL in the same time zone.Five additional prospects are in the NCAA which is also the same time zone, maybe one hour later.Some WHL games start a bit earlier than 10 pm, meaning I can’t watch/record them until the OHL game I started watching is over.All of these leagues condense most of their games to the Friday-Sunday weekend. There will be a lot of days when all six of the OHL and all five of the NCAA prospects are playing on the same day, at the same time and I will only be able to watch one of them.Two of these 8-13 prospects are among Toronto’s top guys – Danford and Hopkins, both the same time zone.Four or five of the others in the CHL are among the more interesting players not in the top prospect tier – McCue, Nansi, maybe Fellinger, Holinka and Mayes.

With the subscription, I can narrow my choice to recording one of the NCAA games (if there is one) and then rewatch the CHL games at later days and times when there’s no other conflict. So if I have this subscription, I would estimate that I would expect to watch 3-6 additional games per week from just that weekend period over the rest of the week. I’m bolding that to make it clear exactly what it is the subscription pays for.

If you don’t think that is worth pitching in anything, I completely understand. I’m assuming there are plenty of others in a similar situation as me. If you do like the idea of me seeing and writing more about Toronto’s prospects, and you can afford to, please consider pitching in!

With that out of the way, here’s a preview for Toronto’s prospects in the CHL this coming year!

CHL Season Preview

It’s been a while since Toronto has had so many prospects in the CHL at the same time. In fact, I think they have more playing between the OHL and WHL this year than they have in any of the years that I’ve been watching and following the Leafs’ prospects closely.

While there aren’t that many major star prospects like there have been, most of them are to some degree entertaining and useful for their teams. Some will be playing bigger, potentially leading roles this year – or they will have the chance to earn it.

Interestingly, while I’m no full OHL or WHL expert, I think most of them will also be on good teams, with a few being potentially on big contenders. The regular season for the CHL (as far as Toronto’s prospects are concerned anyway) on September 18th, so we’re just over a couple of weeks away.

Ben Danford

Oshawa, in part led by Danford, will likely be among the stronger teams in their conference, but not likely to contend for an OHL title. In each of the past two years, they finished in the upper middle of the Eastern Conference, but went on deep playoff runs to the OHL finals – while unsuccessfully bashing their heads against the inpenetrable wall that was the London Knights juggernaut.

The problem is they lost some big players from last year’s roster. Four of their top five point producers, and six of their top ten, are turning pro or aging out of junior. They will also lose some of the big acquisitions they made down the stretch, and their top goalie.

They will be younger, but if Beckett Sennecke is returned by the Anaheim Ducks and they don’t strip the roster for a rebuild, Oshawa will still have Sennecke, Danford of course, as well as a few of their remaining top players who will be older and better. The big question will be how much of an impact their slew of young players making the jump can be. In theory, they could try and load up again if they do well enough. They do also have three new imports coming in who could be interesting, especially the 6’5″ goalie from Russia.

Regardless, I’m guessing that Danford will be asked to carry a lot on his shoulders this year, and he may even get some powerplay time. He’ll certainly be their top pairing defenseman and top penalty killer, and could have a lot of ice time if they really push for more wins.

Tyler Hopkins

Last year, the Frontenacs finished tied with Oshawa in their conference in the regular season, losing in the second round to Barrie. They’ll be in the same situation as Oshawa is, and for the same reasons. Four of their top five point producers, and seven of their top ten, won’t be returning to the team this season.

They could potentially have a very high end top line if their top import player, Max Westergard, jumps from Sweden to Canada. But since he will likely be getting some SHL time, that seems unlikely. Even if he doesn’t, however, they’ll have another pretty good import player in Tomas Pobezal from Slovakia.

The good news is that Hopkins seems like he’ll be a lock to be their 1C, alongside their top offensive player last year who will also be returning – winger Jacob Battaglia. The bad news is the team might be not that great, even if they sneak into the playoffs again.

Kingston seems to have questionable depth, however, so I wouldn’t be surprised if their remaining top players, like Battaglia or Hopkins, get traded this year. It’s hard for me to know how competitive they can be because so many top players of various ages have already left for the NCAA, and I’m not going to fully dig into every team to find out which team is left the strongest. Being put in a top role will hopefully help Hopkins work on his complete game, mainly the offensive side of things.

Harry Nansi

Owen Sound has been a bad team for the past two years, but should be better this year. Only three of their top players from last year will not be returning to the team, because a lot of them were quite young. Pierce Mbuyi will potentially be a first round pick in this year’s draft, and there will be a lot of 18 and 19 year olds – like Nansi – who they’ll be hoping will take bigger leaps in their development. Most importantly, they look like they will have one of the top goalies in Canada returning to them in Carter George.

For Leafs fans like me though, the big question is how much of a role Harry Nansi will be playing for this up and coming team. That will likely depend on how much better he improves over the summer, especially with his skating. He was a middle six guy last year, but was still in their top 10 for point producers. He had stellar play driving metrics and tracking data, however, hinting at a potential offensive breakout if he starts putting things together.

I bet on him big in the T25U25 because I’ve liked the things he does and the brain he has for the game, and I think/hope his work with Toronto’s staff over the summer will do wonders for him.

Sam McCue

McCue will be on his fourth team in three years. This summer he was traded from Flint to Brantford – which is good news! Because they could wind up being one of the top contenders in their conference again after winning it last year. They’re in the same conference as Oshawa and Kingston, so that will be fun. Brantford narrowly lost to Oshawa in their conference finals, and they’ll have a lot of the same players returning.

On the bad side, they will be losing the top goal scorer in the entire OHL in Nick Lardis, and some quality depth players who weren’t necessarily top prospects but were older and strong in junior. However, they will have more of their best prospects returning plus younger guys in more depth roles last year returning and they will be better.

Then there’s the acquisitions they made, including our own Sam McCue. He may not be a top prospect, but he’ll be on the older side and is a quality scoring depth power forward. They’re also bringing in two solid prospects in Edison Engle and Adam Benak who were both in the USHL last year, and both were drafted this past summer. They’re also set in goal, with Ryerson Leenders returning for his D+2 season. Even with the players they lost, their forward group will be pretty damn deep and I could see them pushing to win the conference again. McCue has a chance to be the Matthew Knies of the roster on their top line, or at least in their top six, but may wind up as more of a middle six guy.

Rylan Fellinger

Flint, as a team, should be a bit better this season as well. They squeaked into the playoffs as the 6th seed, but got pummeled by Kitchener in the first round. The good news is, all of their top forwards will be returning to the team this season – except for Sam McCue, who they traded to Brantford. They did lose a bunch of their defensemen, including both of their top defensive pair. Blake Smith signed with the Leafs, and Matthew Mania heading to the NCAA.

That’s good news for Rylan Fellinger fans! He was used on their second pair last year, so there’s a good chance that will less competition from other right handers he will be able to earn a 1RD spot. His competition is a guy who is smaller and younger and played less last season,

Flint will be replacing those two with Darels Uljanskis, a Latvian defenseman playing in Sweden the past few years, who they took in the import draft. I liked him a good bit in his draft year, and there’s a chance he will help form a top defensive pair on the left side, with Rylan Fellinger on the right.

Matthew Hlacar

Hlacar is arguably the least interesting prospect Toronto has in the CHL, but he’s probably on the best team with the best chance to win it all. They already had the second best record in the OHL last year, behind only London. They lost their top two point producers, but they weren’t HUGE stars.

Everyone else is returning, and they’ll all be a year older and better. They have Oscar Hemming, who is a 6’4″ Finnish winger, brother of a first round pick Emil Hemming, who could also wind up being a late first/early second round pick this year. They’ll also add Christian Kirsch, who is an older goalie they took in the import draft. They could also get even better if two of their other import picks join them, but so far they are starting the season with their respective teams in Europe/the NCAA.

They’ll be a fun team to watch, and I may not even watch them that much. I normally try and check in on all of Toronto’s prospects to some extent through the season, but I’m not expecting to be interested in Hlacar all that much.

Miroslav Holinka

Edmonton was not a top team in the WHL, but they’re in a good position to take a step this year. They lost a couple of their top players, mainly their 1C and starting goalie, but they have a lot of their other top players returning. They’re also going to have an influx of new players including Andrew O’Neill, who is jumping from the US NTDP from last year, and Max Curran who is an older import that was drafted by Colorado in the fifth round back in 2024 and a top forward in the USHL last year.

The team may be a top heavy at forward and defense – it will depend on the development of their younger guys, like Joe Iginla – but they have legitimate impact and star players (for junior anyway). Most importantly, I’d say Holinka has a good chance of being their top center. I really want to see a top line that is all Czech: Jecho and Curran between Holinka. They’re 6’5″, 6’3″ and 6’1″ respectively, and they have a mix of size, skill, and two-way play that could be pretty dominant against junior competition – plus, they’re all on the older size in a league getting younger because of the new pipeline to the NCAA for 19 and 20 year old players.

I think this year’s team could be a lot of fun to watch.

Nathan Mayes

Last year, Spokane went all in for the WHL playoffs and came up just short in the finals. As you can imagine for a junior team who went all in on a playoff run, they are losing some important pieces. But Spokane has some things going for them. Their best player and top centre, Berkly Catton who was the 8th overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, is returning. Also returning is potential top 10 pick in this year’s draft in Mathis Preston, who was already good enough for 45 points in 54 games as a 16 year old last year. They have a slew of other guys who were relatively young last year already providing quality depth who will be returning. They made two import picks this summer, both Germans who have already committed to coming over for this coming season. Neither are star players, but they’re both 19 so on the older side and could provide some quality depth.

The issue will be that, outside of Catton and Preston, the team will be lacking star power. It will be those two and a bunch of guys who are nice to have, which will be enough to make them a good team but not a contender, unless they can somehow sell the farm again or have some of their younger quality guys take a leap and turn into stars.

The good news for Toronto fans is that, with both of the top pairing defensemen from last year gone, in theory Mayes and his usual partner sort of become the new top pairing! Or they will at least have the best shot at it.

So that’s that. I think all of Toronto’s prospects in the CHL this year will wind up on playoff teams. 2-3 of them could be on contenders for their league titles, and most of them are locks or have a good chance to be given top roles on their teams. Next up will be an NCAA and European preview, I may combine them because there aren’t as many in either region compared to the CHL. I’m going to be very busy…

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto’s prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I’d probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen’s Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I’d be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!