Scouting Report: Brayden Irwin

Brayden Irwin is a Toronto boy who the Maple Leafs signed in March after he completed 4 years at the University of Vermont. He led his Vermont team in scoring in his senior year with 15 goals and 34 points in 39 games.

Irwin is not a strong player but he has a big body at 6’5” and 215 lbs and not afraid to use his size. He appears to have a great shot and was the only Leaf scorer in last night’s rookie tournament game which saw Pittsburgh win 2-1. However, Irwin was easily the best player for the Leafs and saw power play and penalty killing time.

He reminds me a little of Dave Andreychuk though the Maple Leafs should be so lucky to have him develop into a top line player. The opinion regarding Irwin is that he is a good power forward with average skating. He'll need some time in the AHL, but he could make a push to play in the NHL at some point. In other words he will follow the same path to the NHL as Viktor Stalberg, Tyler Bozek and Christian Hanson.