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4 Players Who Could Surprisingly Make Toronto Maple Leafs

By Stephen Nixon

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Joshua Ho-Sang #26 of the New York Islanders skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on September 24, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Islanders 3-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Joshua Ho-Sang #26 of the New York Islanders skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on September 24, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Islanders 3-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 27: Kasimir Kaskisuo #30 of the North Division  . (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

No. 2: Brennan Menell

After Toronto acquired Menell from the Minnesota Wild and eventually signed him to a one-year deal, there wasn’t much buzz around him. Since he only has five NHL games of experience, he’s been flying under-the-radar, despite being someone who could make the opening night roster.

Menell is a relatively small defenseman, standing tall at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, but it fits his skillset. Tony Ferrari, of DobberProspects, described Menell’s game in October, 2019 in a way that should excite many Leafs fans:

"“While it’s not an overly powerful shot, he locates it very well, often getting it through a crowd and creating rebounds in front of the net. It’s quite effective at the top of a power play. His defensive development since the start of the season has been impressive, to say the least, as he uses his skating to get into good positions or recover when things don’t go so well. With his upside likely being a second pairing NHLer with the potential to run a second PP unit, he is getting closer to playing for his hometown team.”"

Menell played in the KHL last season with the Minsk Dynamo and showed a ton of offensive upside finishing third on the team in points, with 38 points in 47 games played. Although that’s an impressive season, we should be cautious with assuming that his KHL numbers will translate to the NHL right away.

Everyone thought that Mikko Lehtonen would be a top-four defenseman after leading the KHL in defensive scoring in the previous year, but he ended up scoring 0 goals in 26 NHL games last year.

We should be cautious with expectations for Menell, but fortunately for Toronto Maple Leafs fans, he did grow up playing North American style hockey, so his game should translate better than Lehtonen did.

As a right-shot defenseman, Menell may have a better chance at cracking the roster, as his only other competitor would be Timothy Liljegren, if the Leafs want to go with three righty’s and three lefty’s. However we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Speaking of Liljegren…

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