Nicholas Abruzzese is our second straight Leafs prospect who a) was drafted in the fourth round last year, and b) had a huge season that led to a similarly huge increase in his T25U25 rankings. In fact, last year he wasn’t ranked at all. He was a D+2 older draft pick who led the USHL in scoring when the Leafs took him, and this year he followed it up by being one of the top NCAA rookies with 44 points in 31 games.
In this sense, Abruzzese seems to be following the Adam Brooks path being a smaller and late blooming forward who has gone gangbusters in his breakout seasons.