For a day in the middle of August, the Toronto Maple Leafs were quite busy with a pair of transactions, waiving defenseman Alexey Marchenko and signing 2015 draft pick Martins Dzierkals to a one-year AHL contract.
Marchenko’s agent Dan Milstein indicated via Twitter on Monday that the Leafs were placing the 25-year-old blueliner on waivers and that the club would make a formal announcement on Tuesday afternoon after Marchenko clears or is claimed by another NHL team.
The Leafs claimed the Moscow native off of waivers in early February and he served as a replacement for Frankie Corrado, who was waived and eventually dealt to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. Marchenko scored two points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 11 games.
The blueliner appeared to be destined for a depth role this season or possibly to the American Hockey League to remove most of his $1.45 Million contract off the Leafs salary cap. It is possible that Toronto placed Marchenko on waivers to see if there was any interest in him around the league. A similar move was made with Peter Holland last summer, who went unclaimed and remained with the Leafs until he was traded to Arizona in December.
The other possibility is a mutual termination of the final year of Marchenko’s two-year deal so that he can return to the KHL. The blueliner played four seasons (2010-13) for hometown CSKA Moscow and may want to return to Russia to get regular playing time and a chance to play for his country in the upcoming Olympics in South Korea (Marchenko was a member of Team Russia at the World Cup of Hockey last September).
Termination of the deal would remove Marchenko’s salary from the Leafs payroll and his contract from their roster. Toronto already had space available under the cap and on the league’s 50-man professional contract limit to sign RFA Connor Brown to a new deal, so this move was not made to make that signing possible.
Tuesday is the deadline for unsigned NCAA players to sign with the club that drafted them, after which they become unrestricted free agents. Toronto was heavily involved in the pursuit of 2016 Hobey Baker Award winner Jimmy Vesey last August, eventually losing out to the New York Rangers. This year’s Hobey Baker winner is defenseman Will Butcher of Denver University.
It could simply be coincidence that a contract spot may open up just as Butcher is set to test the market, but it may mean that the Leafs are preparing for the possibility that the 22-year-old blueliner would sign with them.
If not, the potential departure of Marchenko may increase the possibility of GM Lou Lamoriello adding a right-handed defenseman in advance of next month’s training camp.
The Leafs have only Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Carrick as right-handed shooters likely to start the season on the 23-man roster. Lamoriello may now be in a position to offer a training camp invitation to veterans like Cody Franson, Dennis Wideman or Roman Polak and offer them a legitimate opportunity to make the NHL club.
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Dzierkals, 20, was selected 68th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft and played two seasons with Rouyn-Noranda of the QMJHL, reaching the Memorial Cup Final in 2016 and playing for Latvia in the World Junior last January.
Dzierkals made it clear at last month’s Rookie Development Camp that he did not want to return to the QMJHL as an overager and hoped to begin his professional career with the Toronto Marlies this season.
“I’m going to do everything to try and be in the AHL.” Dzierkals said on Monday. “It will be better for me to make the jump. I’ll try my best and do everything for it. I don’t want to play in Junior as a 20-year-old.”
With the AHL deal, Dzierkals now has an opportunity to play professionally and is positioned to sign a three-year entry-level contract next summer.
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