The return of Byron Froese to the Marlies was expected with Tyler Bozak back at full health. It looked like the Leafs just kept him on the roster for the Centennial Classic as a gesture.

The conditioning loan of Frank Corrado has been a long time coming, but with the Leafs bye-week coming up soon, he will be away for only a few Leafs games.  The Leafs will be playing those games without any extra defenders on the roster as Martin Marincin is still out with an injury.

To refresh our memories on this kind of conditioning loan, the CBA says:

13.8 Conditioning Loan. Unless a Player consents, he shall not be Loaned on a Conditioning Loan to a minor league club. Such Conditioning Loan shall not extend for more than fourteen (14) consecutive days. The Commissioner may take whatever steps he deems necessary to investigate the circumstances under which a Player is Loaned on a Conditioning Loan. If the Commissioner has reason to believe or determines that the Club has used the Conditioning Loan to evade Waivers, or otherwise Circumvent any provision of this Agreement, he may take such disciplinary action against the Club, as he deems appropriate. The Player shall continue, during the period of such Conditioning Loan, to receive the same Paragraph 1 NHL Salary, and be entitled to the same benefits, that he would have received had he continued to play with the Club.

This is not the same type of loan that saw Josh Leivo play six games with the Marlies.  For this loan Corrado does not come off of the salary cap or the 23-man roster, and he continues to receive his NHL salary.  It is not cap circumvention, and there is no requirement in the paragraph above for the player to have been injured prior to the loan.

The player does not pass through waivers for the period of the loan.  This provision of the CBA is used often by many teams for players that rarely see game action such as backup goaltenders and the frequent healthy scratches that many teams keep on the roster who are not waiver exempt.  Corrado spent two weeks on the Marlies last year under the same system.

Fourteen days runs until January 16, and in that time there are seven Marlies games but only five Leafs games due to the bye week.  The Leafs games are mostly road games, but they are in the Easter Conference in nearby cities.  If the Leafs need to recall Corrado before his two weeks are over, it will be no problem.

However, the Marlies could have used Corrado back when Travis Dermott was injured, but the timing on the Leafs end obviously wasn’t right.  He will raise the Marlies right-shooting defender count to two, so that might help them out for a few games.

In Corrado’s seven games with the Marlies last year, he had three assists and no goals.

Toronto Marlies