Will Niagara IceDog graduate Josh Ho-Sang finally make his mark with the Maple Leafs?

Will the Toronto Maple Leafs finally be the team that can get the most out of Niagara IceDog graduate Josh Ho-Sang?

Despite just being 25, Ho-Sang has already led what could best be referred to as a “journeyman’s career,” despite being the number one draft of the New York Islanders in 2014.

Even upon his departure from the St Catharines OHL team seven years ago, the squad couched their words carefully when describing Ho-Sang, saying, “It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Ho-Sang as he has had to endure certain hardships in his young career as others have often questioned his style of play on the ice.”

Ho-Sang is with the Leafs after being offered a “personal try-out” and on Saturday night, he got to play right wing to Leafs captain John Tavares against the Montreal Canadiens in an exhibition 4-1 win.

While he was held off the scoresheet, Ho-Sang impressed mapleleafshotstove.com in their post-game analysis, who said, “He’s a player with some serious offensive upside, especially considering the Leafs signed him to a PTO. If he can continue to make plays at a high level with the puck while putting in more effort without the puck than we’ve ever seen from Ho-Sang, I wouldn’t be surprised if he earned himself a contract.”

Ho-Sang initially played with the Windsor Spitfire before being picked up by the Islanders in 2014. They immediately sent him back down to the Spitfires for seasoning.

On  November 14, he was traded to the IceDogs and finished the 2014-2015 season with 81 points in 60 games.

However, when he showed up late for the Islanders’ 2015 training camp, he was bounced right back to the IceDogs. He finished his final OHL season with 82 points in 66 games.

From there, he bounced back and forth with sporadic stints with the Isles but mostly with their AHL affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Most recently, he played overseas with Orebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League before shifting to Linkoping HC for the remainder of the SHL season.

This past July, the Leafs offered him a PTO. But now it’s time to see if he can live up to his much-touted potential.