The Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Martin Marincin on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). A move like this was expected after the acquisition of Jake Muzzin as Toronto was carrying nine defenders on their roster for Friday’s game in Detroit.
Marincin has seen very limited action this season. Despite being healthy throughout the year, he has played in just ten games with Toronto and has been a scratch the rest of the way. In those ten contests, the 26-year-old has a pair of assists while logging 15:07 per night, a career low. He has a total of 187 career NHL contests under his belt across parts of six seasons but while his 6’5 frame would have been enticing to quite a few teams in the past, the shift towards more mobility on the back end has hurt his stock.
Considering Marincin passed through waivers unclaimed last year and has played only sparingly this season, there’s a good chance he will make it through unclaimed. If that happens, his entire $800K cap hit will come off of Toronto’s books upon being assigned to the minors.
I still don’t understand why the Leafs are so hell-bent on protecting Holl. He never plays. He isn’t very good. Borgman and Rosen are far better than him and they are waived exempt so why not waive Holl or trade him?
He’s there for injury purposes, and he’s far more effective than Marincin ever has been. If Holl was put on waivers, he’d be claimed within minutes…Marincin wasn’t claimed last year and likely won’t be this go around.