Toronto Maple Leafs sign Ryan Tverberg to entry-level contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed 2020 seventh-round draft pick Ryan Tverberg to an entry-level contract, the club announced Wednesday morning.

Tverberg, 21, recorded 15 goals and 30 points in 35 games as a junior with the University of Connecticut Huskies during the 2022–23 season. His entry-level will run for three years beginning in 2023–24.

Only four other players were selected after Toronto used the 213th-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft to nab Tverberg. Of the 12 players the Maple Leafs drafted in 2020, Tverberg was the last one selected.

Tverberg committed to UConn as a top player from the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Toronto Jr. Canadiens, with whom he scored 26 goals and 51 points in 47 games at ages 17 and 18 in 2019–20.

The five-foot-eleven center, who shoots right, debuted at UConn in 2020–21 for a partial season as a young freshman. He emerged as a top collegiate player the following year, recording 32 points in 36 games as a sophomore and being named a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award.

In 85 career NCAA games with the Huskies, Tverberg collected 33 goals and 69 points. He was named to the NCAA East Second All-American Team and earned a spot on the Hockey East First All-Star Team in 2022. UConn’s 2022–23 season concluded with a 2–1 loss to UMass Lowell on Mar. 11.

The Maple Leafs selected a dozen players in the 2020 NHL Draft. Tverberg is the sixth player out of that group (and the first of the six they selected in the final two rounds) to sign his entry-level deal with the club, joining Rodion Amirov, Roni Hirvonen, Topi Niemela, William Villeneuve, and Dmitry Ovchinnikov.