Toronto Maple Leafs: Dubas Signs Four Players
By Josh Tessler
Kyle Dubas, the new general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs completed his first four transactions today.
At 1:00 PM EST, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ PR Twitter account posted the below tweet explaining that Dubas had signed Pierre Engvall, Jesper Lindgren, Pär Lindholm and Igor Ozhiganov to entry-level contracts.
With the signings of Ozhiganov and Lindgren, Dubas has added two young right handed defensive prospects to the roster.
There was much speculation that the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to sign Ozhiganov after he met with Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock in Moscow back in August of last year, per a report from Andrey Osadchenko of Sports.RU. Babcock and the front office clearly liked what they saw from him. Once his contract with CSKA Moscow expired, both parties renewed talks. The Maple Leafs were successfully able to ink Ozhiganov to a one-year contract.
The @MapleLeafs have signed Pierre Engvall to a two-year entry level contract, Jesper Lindgren to a three-year entry level contract, Pär Lindholm to a one-year entry level contract and Igor Ozhiganov to a one-year entry level contract. #TMLtalk
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) May 17, 2018
Last season, Ozhiganov played with CSKA Moscow in Kontinental Hockey League. In 42 games with CSKA Moscow, he registered 2 goals, 7 assists and 12 PIM.
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As mentioned above, Dubas also signed Lindgren, who was selected by the Leafs in the 2015 draft to an entry-level contract. For the past few seasons, he played with HPK in Liiga and Modo Hockey in Allsv. After HPK’s season had concluded, the Toronto Marlies offered him an amateur tryout and he played in four regular season games with the club.
Both defensemen will likely join the Toronto Marlies next season.
Lindholm & Engvall
In addition, Dubas signed Lindholm and Engvall to entry-level contracts. As mentioned in the tweet, Lindholm was given a one year contract and Engvall was inked to a two year contract.
Last season, Lindholm, the 26 year old centre was nothing but spectacular. He played for Skelleftea AIK in the Swedish Hockey League. In 49 games played, he posted 18 goals and 27 assists. Additionally, he was pivotal to Skelleftea’s success in the playoffs and registered 11 points in 16 playoff games. He was also featured on Sweden’s Olympic Hockey squad. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to have the same success in South Korea as he was limited to one goal in four Olympic matches.
Fellow Swedish national, Engvall also provides the Toronto Maple Leafs with another talented winger. He played for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League. In 31 games played for HV71 last season, he tallied 7 goals and 13 assists. After HV71’s season finished, he joined the Toronto Marlies and registered 8 points in 9 games played.
Engvall will likely remain with the Toronto Marlies next season, while Lindholm could potentially play with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs have a need for a fourth line centre and based on how Lindholm does in the pre-season, he could be named to the NHL roster.
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Recap
The Toronto Maple Leafs have added four talented prospects. Perhaps Leafs Nation might see one of the prospects, Lindholm play with the Maple Leafs next season. Time will tell.
stats from eliteprospects.com and hockeydb.com