Morgan Klimchuk wasn’t part of the Toronto Maple Leafs for very long. Acquired by the Maple Leafs earlier this season, Klimchuk is now on his way to the Ottawa Senators organization in exchange for minor league forward Gabriel Gagne.
It’s been a long and frustrating road for Klimchuk since being the 28th overall pick in 2013. The 23-year old forward has played just a single game in the NHL since then despite strong minor league numbers, and has lost much of the shine that he had as a prospect. Traded to Toronto for Andrew Nielsen earlier this season, he scored just two goals for the Marlies in 13 games and could never find his footing. He’ll now try it again with an Ottawa organization that is more than willing to take chances on former top prospects given their lack of success at the NHL level. There’s even a chance that Klimchuk could see some NHL action later this season, something he was certainly not going to experience in Toronto.
Gagne on the other hand is a year younger than Klimchuk but has also seen the hype surrounding his prospect status dull in recent years. Originally selected 36th overall by the Senators in 2015, the 6’5″ forward has struggled to generate consistent offense in the minor leagues. Though he did score 20 goals last season for the Belleville Senators, a total of 40 points in 142 AHL games isn’t cutting it. There’s not a lot of creativity to his game, but perhaps he’ll be able to find some chemistry with some of the talented passers found on the Marlies.