Today, the Leafs have announced that Jake Muzzin is being sent to the AHL on a conditioning loan.

This will be the same sort of loan as Trevor Moore is on, and the details are described here:

Maple Leafs send Trevor Moore to the Marlies on a conditioning loan

The Marlies are in Toronto right now, practising ahead of the rest of their Boat Show road trip. This is the easiest part of the trip, and includes two games in Cleveland against the Monsters — Friday night at 7 and Saturday afternoon at 1. The AHL then moves into their All-Star Game weekend, and Kasimir Kaskisuo will jet out to Ontario to represent the Marlies.

The Marlies don’t play again until January 31 at home, so it would seen this loan will be two games to test out his foot, and that’s it.

Muzzin hasn’t played in the AHL since the 2012-2013 lockout year, and he likely wouldn’t have at all that year without the lockout, so he’s 10 years removed from the league. There have been a lot of changes in the AHL in that decade, and the Marlies are one of the teams leading the way. Their team is younger, faster, full of prospects and young free agent signings and more European than ever. Even their veterans are young veterans, and there is only one Marlies player older than Muzzin, and at 30, it’s not like he’s ancient.

That Marlies oldster is none other than Rich Clune, who played with Muzzin in Manchester for the Monarchs proving that you can never really escape your past.

Muzzin is, of course, way too good for the AHL. Which is excellent timing, because the Marlies need a boost, and beating up the team at the bottom of the North division with two NHL ringers in the lineup might be just what they need. (Trevor Moore will be eligible to play if the Leafs have asked for an extension to his conditioning loan.)

It’s time to go slay the Monster in the lake, Jake, and likely take everyone out to dinner at the best restaurant Cleveland can provide. You fans in Toronto probably don’t even realize the Monster is real. Bessie is the Monster that graces the front of the jerseys for the Cleveland team. Absolutely reliable and totally not drunk witnesses have reported seeing Bessie as early as 1793.

Go get Bessie, Jake!  I can’t wait to see Muzzin slay the other Monsters too. It will be a nice turnabout from the Texas Stars playing Stephen Johns against the Marlies on a conditioning stint a few games back. But the best part is that if Muzzin is fit, he’ll be back on the Leafs soon.

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