Toronto Maple Leafs Sign a Prospect and William Nylander Gets Snubbed

Despite the obvious slowdown after the back-to-back excitement of the NHL Entry Draft and Free Agent Period, there is still some Toronto Maple Leafs news to report.

According to Mike Augello from hockeybuzz.com, Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander was not invited to Team Sweden’s preliminary camp for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Considering that William Nylander is among the best forwards in the NHL, it’s pretty weird that he wouldn’t be invited to Sweden’s camp.  Other than Elias Pettersson and Gabriel Landeskog, there don’t appear to be any other Swedish forwards as good as William Nylander.

One could only speculate at this point, but there is likely more to this story, since the idea that there are 12 better Swedish forwards is preposterous.

Whether or not the NHL is in the Olympics next year is still up in the air. As Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reported in late July, the NHL is still considering it’s options, even though they agreed in principle with the Players Association that they would go.

Sticking points include Covid 19 and other concerns that kept the NHL from the 2018 games.  Despite not having a commitment in place at this time, the NHL schedule does include an Olympic break.

Toronto Maple Leafs Re-Sign Joseph Duszak

According to capfriendly.com, the Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed defenseman Joseph Duszak to a one year deal.  The new deal is a two-way deal with an NHL value of $750,000 and a minor league value of $150,000.

Duszak was Signed as an undrafted college free agent in 2019 from Mercyhurst College. He attracted a lot of attention that season, with 47 points in 37 games.

In his first full year of playing at the pro level, Duszak scored 35 points in 34 games with the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. He then went on to record 18 points in 23 games with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

His stats took a slight dip this season while playing in a shortened season due to the Coronavirus pandemic. He recorded 12 points in 25 games and will be looking to improve on those numbers this season.

Duszak is 24 years old, and although he is not that high on the Toronto Maple Leafs depth chart, he is still part of the overall depth nonetheless. Hopefully, he will have a productive 2021-22 season with the Marlies.

Given his age excellent AHL production last year, injuries could give Duszak his first NHL game this season, though his odds of making the team out of training camp appear to be pretty low.