The Maple Leafs have kept one of their depth defenders around, announcing that they’ve re-signed Martin Marincin to a one-year, $700K contract. The team also confirmed the previously-reported one-year, $700K deal for goaltender Michael Hutchinson.
Marincin was once regarded as a quality prospect in Edmonton but has since settled in as a depth player over his four seasons with Toronto. In 2018-19, he spent most of the year as a reserve defender but still got into 24 games with the Maple Leafs, averaging over 15 minutes a night in those contests. He also saw action in eight contests with the AHL Marlies which made it the second straight year he had cleared waivers and saw time at both levels.
Toronto’s salary cap crunch is well-known so the fact that Marincin took a small pay cut to drop to the league minimum salary is somewhat noteworthy. That will certainly help his chances of remaining with the big club for next season, likely in the same role he had in 2018-19. With 201 career NHL games under his belt, the Maple Leafs know what they have in Marincin and while his upside is more limited now than it once was believed to be, he can still be a small factor for them for another season.
In addition to those announcements, the team also revealed that they have hired former Philadelphia head coach Dave Hakstol as their new assistant coach to round out Mike Babcock’s coaching staff. Hakstol spent part of four seasons behind the Flyers bench before being let go in December. Toronto’s staff has undergone some changes this summer with the departures of D.J. Smith (to the Senators as head coach) and Jim Hiller (to the Islanders as an assistant) while also bringing in former Florida assistant Paul McFarland.
a Babcock favourite…. and people still dont know why
Would have been easy enough (and likely better) to just move on. Options of this (lack of) caliber and minimal cost will always be available.
Can Frank Corrado be next?