Toronto Marlies Notebook: Maple Leafs of Future Past

Marincin’s Redemption

When Martin Marincin was demoted to the AHL on October 6th, 2017, it left him as nothing but an afterthought within Leafs Nation. Lately, however, he has proven himself to be anything but.

Perhaps Marincin’s most glaring flaw was a complete lack of patience when possessing the puck. No player seemed better at accidentally tossing grenades right up the middle, directly onto the sticks of their opponent than he was. It was almost impressive.

To put it in perspective, if you were lucky enough to play on a Call of Duty team with Marincin, this is probably what it would look like:

Frankly, no one would have blamed Marincin if he struggled to process his demotion. Going from charter planes to riding buses in Utica is a pretty steep drop off in one’s profession.

And yet, Marincin has done the complete opposite.

When I spoke to Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe in late October, he revealed that he’d issued a number of challenges to Marincin. Among those challenges, two specifically focused on him holding the puck longer, along with shooting more.

So far, Marincin has taken them to heart.

With six points in 10 games, he places first among all Marlies defencemen. Not too shabby. Furthermore, Marincin has added a level of poise to his game, choosing to confidently rush the puck up the ice in instances where previously would have simply thrown it away.

I guess, if holding onto the puck leads to goals like this, he should never pass it again.

Moral of the story: don’t write off Marincin just yet. Whether it’s with the Leafs or another franchise, I think we’ll see him back in the NHL before the year is done.