The Maple Leafs have assigned center Benoit-Olivier Groulx to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, the team’s media relations department announced Friday.
Groulx, 26, was recalled following the trade deadline earlier this month to serve as a fill-in down the middle after Scott Laughton was dealt to the Kings and captain Auston Matthews suffered a season-ending MCL injury. In his first NHL action in nearly two years, the 6’2″ middleman scored three goals and two assists for five points in nine games.
The Rouen, France, native is signed through next season after inking a two-year, $1.625MM contract last summer following a non-tender by the Rangers, with whom he spent the entire 2024-25 campaign in the minors. His efficient scoring performance, plus a +5 rating while averaging north of 15 minutes per game in heavy defensive usage, might very well make him a favorite to land a bottom-six center job in training camp next fall.
Groulx was a second-round pick by the Ducks in 2018. While he only scored a goal and five points in 65 games with them before they cut him loose with a non-tender in 2024, he’s demonstrated improved offensive acumen in the minors since getting a fresh start in the New York and Toronto organizations.
This season, Groulx is the Marlies’ scoring leader with a 27-23–50 line in 54 games. He “wanted to go down and help them and play,” head coach Craig Berube told reporters Friday (including Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun), offering some insight into why he was flexed back down despite his strong performance in a middle-six role over the past few weeks.
With Matthews out, the Leafs no longer have an extra healthy forward on the active roster. If there’s an injury, they’ll need to make an emergency recall from the Marlies to ice 12 forwards.