TJ Brennan’s overtime winner and three point effort in a 5-4 victory in Binghamton Wednesday night was a fitting end to a very good day for the Toronto Marlies blueliner, as the American Hockey League announced Brennan the winner of the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s outstanding defenseman for the 2013-14 season.
The 25-year-old former Buffalo Sabres draft pick was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Leafs last July after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Florida Panthers at the end of the 2013 season. Brennan posted the best offensive numbers of his career, leading the Marlies with 72 points(25 goals and 47 assists in 74 games) and earning him named First Team All-Star honors.
In spite of putting up career-year numbers, Brennan did not play a game for the Leafs during the 2013-14 season(even though he was called up for two days early in the season) and it is uncertain what his future will be in Toronto past the completion of the AHL Playoffs which begin next week.
Brennan is an unrestricted free agent this summer and looks to have the offensive and skating ability to be an NHL blueliner(10 points in 29 games with Buffalo and Florida in 2013)but has not shown enough consistency in the defensive zone. The Leafs have similar concerns with rookie Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner and veteran Cody Franson, so adding another offense-first defenseman to a corps that allowed 256 goals against last season would not likely be a good fit.
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The list of Maple Leafs players going to the 2014 IIHF World Championships in Belarus next month has grown by one, as ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun is reporting that center Nazem Kadri has accepted an invitation to play for Canada.
Kadri scored 20 goals and 30 assists in his first full season with Toronto and joins teammates James Reimer and Morgan Rielly for the annual international tournament.
Center Tyler Bozak is also expected to be invited to be a member for Team Canada.
Defenseman Jake Gardiner will also be travelling to Europe as a member of Team USA.
Forwards Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, defenseman Dion Phaneuf and goaltender Jonathan Bernier all declined invitations due to injury or fatigue.
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The Marlies continue to benefit from an influx of young talent being added as a result of teams being eliminated from post-season competiion in the CHL. 2013 Leafs draft picks Carter Verhaeghe and Fabrice Herzog played their first professional game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday and according to Kyle Cicerella of Canadian Press, first rounder Frederik Gauthier may also join Toronto’s AHL affiliate before the completion of their AHL regular season schedule against Rochester on Saturday.
The big 18-year-old center played for Canada in this year’s World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden and recovered from a slow start to score at nearly a point-per-game pace(18 goals and 34 assists in 54 games) with Rimouski. Gauthier scored three goals and six assists in 11 playoff games for the Oceanic, who were eliminated by Blainville-Boisbriand in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs.
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