Good Morning!

The Leafs play the Lightning tonight and will look to break their two game losing streak. After a whole month without losing in regulation, apparently two losses was enough for Dubas to make some changes. I was a good run, Geno Malgin!

Leafs trade Denis Malgin for Dryden Hunt

Although reaction has seemed to be mixed on the trade, some very encouraging advanced scouting of Hunt has been done on twitter...

Although it’s possible that Hunt slots in tonight against the Lightning, it seems unlikely given he was just acquired yesterday. Instead, it looks like Jarnkrok will be returning from injury to replace the Malgin-sized hole in the lineup.

In Leafs’ prospect news, it looks like the Russian prospects have been doing quite well for themselves lately. Akhtyamov, a goalie prospect from the 2020 draft, is on a three game shutout after his most recent game and seems to be absolutely dominating the VHL lately!

Nikita Grebyonkin, another Leafs’ prospect, started this season playing with Metallurg, but struggled to get playing time as a young player on a good team. So, they loaned him to Amur, a struggling team. Since then, Greb has been getting a lot more playing time and succeeded, scoring at a half point-per-game pace. In his most recent game, he even got to show his own team (Metallurg) up a little bit!

In NHL news, apparently Cale Makar is a good enough sport that he’s willing to deny his team a powerplay for it...

Makar’s just passing on sportsmanship, I guess.

And, finally, Andrew Hammond, alternatively known as the Hamburglar, has announced he’s retiring from hockey due to injury. His rapid rise to prominence in 2015, complete with affectionate nickname that he embraced, was one of the more memorable meteoric rises in recent NHL history — even if it was for the Sens. Enjoy post-hockey life, Hamburglar!

Happy Tuesday!

From The Branches