One slightly frustrating thing about being a fan of the Toronto Marlies is sometimes trying to figure out where they went.

Vladimir Bobylev, a 2016 Leafs draft pick, attended the rookie camp this year, and he then moved on to training camp on the Marlies side.  Bobylev, you might recall, has played in the WHL and tried the KHL last season to not great success.  He came back to Canada and rejoined his junior team.

As the Marlies made cuts after their exhibition games were over, but before their official roster was announced, Bobylev turned out to be one of the unnamed nine that was sent to Orlando.

Toronto Marlies announce their official roster
Toronto Marlies cut players from camp, send nine to ECHL

The Orlando Solar Bears produced a training camp roster on October 4, and it indicated Bobylev had been given an AHL contract. Up to that point he’d been on try-out agreements.  Bobylev never showed at the Orlando scrimmage, and the transfer pages showed him recalled to Toronto.  This seemed plausible, after the trade of Tobias Lindberg.

But today, there are various statements on Russian sites that say he has been traded by his former KHL team (who still held his rights) to Salavat Yulaev.  Their club site says the following, translated by Google:

Today Ufa's Salavat Yulaev and Moscow's Spartak made an exchange. The young and talented striker Vladimir Bobylev is moving to our club. In turn, another forward Stepan Khripunov will follow in the opposite direction.

That’s not exactly how they phrase it when they just trade for rights on the off-chance a player returns from North America.

Meanwhile a news site said this:

Ex-player of Moscow "Spartak", which last season held in the WHL team "Victoria", conducted a training session with the Ufa club, the correspondent of BUSINESS Online

That sounds like he’s in Ufa right now.

H/T to Vorky for this news with sources cited.

Meanwhile, if we have indeed found Bobylev, and he’s not with the Marlies anymore, the missing members from their training camp, all listed as under AHL contract, are now:

  • Martins Dzierkals
  • Max Novak
  • Alex Gudbranson
  • Jean Dupuy
  • Cal Heeter/

None of the above are on either the AHL or ECHL roster and have never been shown to be injured or otherwise released from their contracts.

Where in the world are they?

Edited to add:  We found three!

Novak, Gudbranson and Dupuy are reporting to Orlando.  Are they making them hitchhike down I95?

And another one’s gone, another one, as predicted in the comments, has made his way to Orlando.

Dzierkals could be having visa issues.

Toronto MarliesMaple Leafs Prospects