Calle Jarnkrok’s impending return was going to push Malgin out of a top-six role and from there his role wasn’t clear.
The Denis Malgin era has ended in Toronto, again.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded the forward to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Dryden Hunt on Monday.
“From what I know of the player it’s just a different type of player,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of the move. “We’re just trying to change up the depth of our team a little bit here.”
With Calle Jarnkrok’s return from a groin injury imminent, it’s clear Malgin was going to be pushed out of the top-six forward role he had occupied for the past four games.
Before those games, Malgin played in one contest on the fourth line and was a healthy scratch for three games prior to that.
The Maple Leafs signed Malgin to a one-year, $750,000 contract this summer. He won a roster spot out of training camp, beating Nick Robertson for one of the remaining spots in the lineup, but struggled to generate offense.
The 25-year-old had two goals and four points in 23 games this season.
“I thought he was an offensive spark, it sucks to see him go,” Zach Aston-Reese said of Malgin.
Malgin saw some success with Aston-Reese on a fourth line that had been rotating many different players throughout the course of the season. Both players became pretty close with the pair driving to practice together.
But such is the business and the Leafs have closed a chapter that saw Malgin’s time in Toronto become on again and off again.
Following the 2020 season, the Leafs didn’t tender Malgin a qualifying offer and he spent last season with Zurich in the Swiss League and where he scored 21 goals and 52 points in 48 games.
In Hunt, the Leafs get a 27-year-old who could help the team’s bottom-six depth with a more physical presence. He has 14 goals and 42 points in 193 career regular season games over the course of his six-year NHL career with the Florida Panthers, Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche.
Hunt will fly out to join the team on Tuesday and will be available to take part in the team’s next scheduled practice on Wednesday. However, it’s not clear if he will make his season debut on Thursday before the team heads out for the holiday break.
“Guy plays hard a pretty simple game, physical and competitive,” Keefe said of Hunt. “I think not a lot has happened for him offensively in the NHL but he’s scored and been a good player at the AHL level and protects the puck well and all of those kind of things. I think to that end it brings a different element to the depth.”
Hunt was originally signed by the Florida Panthers in 2016 as an undrafted free agent. He has played in five NHL playoff games.