The National Hockey League may have suspended the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season for the time being, but the personnel within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization continue to be hard at work trying to secure every competitive advantage they can get themselves.
On Saturday the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs affiliate team in the American Hockey League, announced a pair of solid signings including the addition of a former NHL draft pick. According to an official announcement from the Marlies organization the team signed both defenseman Noel Hoefenmayer and forward Jeremy McKenna to two year AHL contracts, the terms of those deals were not disclosed publicly.
Hoefenmayer, a 20 year old defenseman, was once selected by the Arizona Coyotes at the National Hockey League Entry Draft although he never played under that organization's umbrella. Instead Hoefenmayer spent the last several seasons of his young career in the Ontario Hockey League where he was a fixture on the blue line for the Ottawa 67's. In his most recent season the defenseman recorded 26 goals and 56 assists for 82 points over just 58 games, a solid showing to be sure.
McKenna on the other hand is a 20 year old undrafted forward that has spent the last 4 seasons of his career playing in the quebec Major Junior Hockey League. A member of the Moncton Wildcats for all 4 seasons McKenna has really stepped up over his last 2 campaigns, recording over 40 goals and over 80 points in each of the last 2 seasons.
It is interesting to see the Maple Leafs organization making these signings in spite of all the uncertainty in the world at this time, but it likely speaks to the quality of both players that the Leafs organization felt the moves were necessary ones at this time.
