Maple Leafs extend Denis Malgin

Today the Toronto Maple Leafs have started their 2020 offseason by extending RFA Denis Malgin to a one-year minimum-salary extension of $700,000.

Malgin was acquired at the deadline from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Mason Marchment. He is 23, and this signing buys out a year where he has arbitration rights at less than his Qualifying Offer would be by $87,500. QOs are due next Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Malgin only played eight games for the Leafs, and did not appear in the five-game qualifying round, so his history as a depth forward in Florida is about all we have to go on to rate him. The Leafs couldn’t have made a better deal here, and Malgin now has a chance to prove is worth an NHL roster spot, something he is yet to do.

By signing him for less than his QO would be, the Leafs just created $87,500 in offseason cap space for Friday, when that calculation governs their ability to sign bigger fish.

Update: A Swiss media site is saying he will be loaned to Lausanne until the NHL season begins.

Confirmation:

The @MapleLeafs have loaned forward Denis Malgin to Lausanne HC (Switzerland) #LeafsForever

— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 6, 2020