Maple Leafs demote two players to the AHL.

Leafs make a pair of roster moves.

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HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Maple Leafs demote two players to the AHL.
Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a pair of roster moves but it is starting to become difficult to tell how significant these are given the frequency at which they have been happening lately. 

According to an official announcement from the Toronto Maple Leafs Department of Public Relations, the Maple Leafs have sent both forward Adam Brooks and veteran defenseman Matt Marincin down to the American Hockey League where they will join the Toronto Marlies. Now I say that technically only because it is unclear if either man will actually be joining the Marlies at this time, or if this is merely another paper transaction on the part of Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas. The Leafs have had to get quite creative with the National Hockey League's salary cap this season due to the big contracts handed out by Dubas to his core group of forwards, and we have seen a number of NHL to AHL or AHL to NHL transactions this season that have been due entirely to cap restrictions. 

The move involving Adam Brooks today is a perfect example of the salary cap reality that the Maple Leafs are currently facing. The 23 year old center has played every game this season as a member of the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, appearing in 18 total games in which he has recorded 7 goals and 7 assists for a combined 14 points on the season so far. In spite of being called up to the main roster he never played a single game for the Maple Leafs and has now been sent right back down to the AHL. 

Marincin however is the prime example of this situation with the veteran defenseman having been moved up and down more times than I care to count this season, and we have not even reached the Christmas break yet. Marincin has bounced between the NHL and AHL a large number of times and during this most recent call he, like Brooks, did not appear in even a single game for the Leafs. There is good reason to suspect here that Marincin will quickly be called back up when the situation permits it, but that is only speculation on my part at this time.


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