As the Toronto Maple Leafs play their first games of the 2021-22 NHL season, their affiliate teams in the AHL and ECHL also prepare to open their season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs AHL Club, the Toronto Marlies, play their first game on Saturday, October 16th,l while the Newfoundland Growlers play their first game on Thursday, October 21st.
Yesterday, the Newfoundland Growlers announced their training camp roster which revealed some surprising cuts from the Marlies roster.
The biggest surprise cut was definitely Jeremy McKenna.
Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Cut from Marlies
McKenna spent time at the Toronto Maple Leafs main camp after a very impressive development camp. He even had a goal and an assist in two preseason games with the Marlies last weekend. Unfortunately for Mckenna, the Marlies are a fairly deep team and competition is stiff.
Last season, McKenna had 13 points in 28 games with the Marlies and 13 points in 20 games with the Wichita Thunder in the ECHL. I’m sure he’ll see time with the Marlies this season and will probably be the first forward called up to the AHL when either an injury or an NHL call up to the Toronto Maple Leafs makes that necessary.
Another somewhat surprising cut from the Marlies is defenseman, Noel Hoefenmayer, who was also at the Toronto Maple Leafs main camp and spent significant time with the Marlies last season. He had 6 points in 18 games with the Marlies last year and 10 points in 23 games with the Wichita Thunder. (All stats hockeydb.com).
The Toronto Marlies are loaded with great AHL level defenseman, so it’s not too surprising that Noel Hoefenmayer is joining the Growlers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they assigned another great defenseman to the Growlers soon. Here is their depth chart going forward.
Robertson – Semyonov – Ho-Sang
Seney – Abramov – Steeves*
Gogolev – Der-Arguchintsev – Gabriel
Kopacka – Douglas – Anderson
Clune – Suomela* – Michaelis
Dahlstrom – Biega
Rubins – Menell
Kral – Duszak
Kivihalme – Hollowell
Hellickson – Finkelstein*
Hutchinson
Woll*
Scott*
Kallgren
* = injury
While it may be disappointing for Hoefenmayer and McKenna to get cut, the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs system is so deep that quality players are being left off the AHL team is a very good sign. The Leafs haven’t had much luck developing prospects in the last couple years, but their drafting under Kyle Dubas has drawn rave reviews and we should start to see the system producing NHL players any time.
The Marlies seem set to have an exciting season with this roster filled with fresh young talent. I can’t wait to see what they can accomplish.