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Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Leaves North America for KHL

By Jeremy Ridgewell

LAVAL, QC - OCTOBER 27: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev #19 of the Toronto Marlies skates against the Laval Rocket during the second period at Place Bell on October 27, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Laval Rocket defeated the Toronto Marlies 5-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
LAVAL, QC - OCTOBER 27: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev #19 of the Toronto Marlies skates against the Laval Rocket during the second period at Place Bell on October 27, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Laval Rocket defeated the Toronto Marlies 5-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs qualified three restricted free agents (RFA) this off-season. Ilya Samsonov, Nick Abruzzese, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev received qualifying offers allowing the team to control their contractual rights.

The Toronto Maple Leafs  main focus within this RFA group is goaltender Ilya Samsonov. He is the only one who impacts their main roster. With all the other moves general manager Brad Treliving is making with the main NHL roster, Samsonov’s new contract might have to wait until the dust settles.

With Abruzzese and Der-Arguchintsev expected to play in the AHL for the Toronto Marlies this season, one has decided to stick around while the other is off to play in the KHL. While the Leafs hold Der-Arguchintsev’s NHL rights, his KHL rights were traded from Torpedo to HC Traktor. The 22-year-old then signed a two-year deal with Traktor.

Should he decide to return to North America after two years in the KHL, the Leafs will retain his rights. He registered 12 goals and 28 assists for 40 points in 50 games for the Toronto Marlies last season. Der-Arguchintsev is a 3rd-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the 2018 NHL draft. He’s registered 25 goals and 47 assists for 72 points in 107 AHL games with the Marlies over three seasons.

Toronto Maple Leafs Wishing Der-Arguchintsev All the Best

Hopefully, for his sake, playing in the KHL will allow Der-Arguchintsev to get the playing time that he wasn’t getting here with the Toronto Marlies.

These next two years away could be beneficial for him. The Leafs are hoping it will help him progress in his development. By the time he comes back to North America, he might be NHL-ready.

Until then, the Leafs will watch him from afar while worrying about things on this side of the Atlantic.

A lot can happen in two years, so we’ll have to wait and see if and when Der-Arguchintsev plays another game within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

At some point, they could trade his rights to another team. For now, they continue to hope he’ll become as effective in the NHL as he was in the OHL.

During his draft year he registered 12 goals and 39 assists for 51 points in 68 games. He followed that up with 46 points in 62 games during the 2018-19 OHL season and 75 points in 55 games during the 2019-20 OHL season. That kind of production at the NHL level would be great.

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Here is wishing him luck in the KHL.

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