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Maple Leafs prospect Jeremy Bracco celebrated a World Junior championship as a member of Team USA last week and now has a good chance of adding a Memorial Cup to his resume, as the speedy forward was traded by the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers to the Windsor Spitfires on Monday.
The 19-year-old winger led the Rangers with 51 points (17 goals, 34 assists) prior to departing for the Americans pre-tournament training camp in early December.
#Leafs prospect Jeremy Bracco kisses the trophy after Team USA's win that the #WJC2017 #CANvsUSA pic.twitter.com/BTNh1Iamza
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) January 6, 2017
The Spitfires have an automatic bid due to hosting the Memorial Cup this spring and have added Bracco to a group that includes 2015 first rounders Logan Brown(OTT), Mikhail Sergachev(MON) and Logan Stanley(WIN).
It was thought that Bracco could join the Toronto Marlies after the completion of his season, as Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen did last April, but with Windsor guaranteed entry into the four-team round robin, the Marlies would have to reach the Calder Cup Conference Final for him to be available.
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The New York Giants have taught Auston Matthews nothing pic.twitter.com/b1vFSkIyIj
— Travis Hughes (@TravisSBN) January 10, 2017
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The Toronto Marlies had four goaltenders on their roster as they split back-to-back games against the Rochester Americans this weekend, but the club is now down to two.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe revealed that veteran Karri Ramo is still on a professional tryout, but is unavailable due to an unspecified injury. The 30-year-old former Calgary goaltender had knee surgery to repair an ACL last February and rehabbed with the Leafs in October and November, but has not seen action after making three December starts
The club announced on Monday that goalie Jeff Glass has been released from his PTO. The 31-year-old former KHLer was 1-1-0, with a 2.05 GAA and .917 save percentage, but had not seen action in over a month.
The Marlies will likely go with two of Jhonas Enroth, Garret Sparks or Antoine Bibeau unless the Leafs put in a claim on either Curtis McElhinney or Jonas Gustavsson, who both were placed on waivers on Monday.
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Listen to the latest edition of the Blue N’ White Tonight podcast, as we discuss the Maple Leafs entering the playoff mix, the expansion draft, some trade rumors and some mid-season grades.
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