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LAVAL, Que. — Featherweight forward Semyon Der-Arguchintsev has come this far in hockey without fear of being squashed like a bug.

But the Maple Leafs assigned one of their biggest wingers to ride shotgun with him anyway at the Rookie Showdown. The third round pick from June debuted this weekend, a goal Saturday against Ottawa and had an assist Sunday versus Montreal, both games skating with Marlies’ Mason Marchment, who is 40 pounds heavier and six inches taller than the 5-foot-10, 159-pound Russian.

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“Everyone here can kind of protect themselves,” Marchment said, “but obviously if there’s anything he needs, I’ll be there for him.

“He’ a very skilled guy, great hands, great vision. I’m excited to keep on playing with him (Marchment departed Sunday’s game in the third period for undetermined reasons).”

Der-Arguchintsev is a Peterborough Pete, who accelerated his North American development at an academic-focused hockey school near Ottawa. He’s quite engaging, shaking hands with everybody, before and after interviews, introduces himself as Sam, or goes by SDA to simplify pronunciation of his lengthy surname.