Mason Marchment returns to our Maple Leafs Top 25 Under 25 at the exact same spot where he was ranked last season: #23.

Vitals Age: 24 (June birthday) Position: LW Shoots: L Height: 6’4” Weight: 200 lbs Acquired: Undrafted. Signed to an ELC in March 2018. 18/19 Team: Toronto Marlies 2018 T25 Ranking: #23 Marchment Votes Voter Rank Voter Rank elseldo Nor Ranked Arvind 24 Katya Not Ranked Omar Not Ranked Hardev 11 Species 13 Brigstew Not Ranked Fulemin Not Ranked Rahef Not Ranked Emily 13 Scouching 15 Kevin 22 Gabriel 23 Daniel 19 Helen 15 Jensine Not Ranked Mel 21

Marchment sailed into the Top 25 after the 2017-18 season as the kind of fun and exciting prospect you really want to root for. A guy you want to believe can make it despite the odds. He cruised up the Marlies lineup, which was stacked with talent and eventually won the Calder Cup. His was a fun success story. He worked hard to earn his eventual role as a key player on the team.

Last season he continued to progress and improve, but it was interrupted with an injury during which he missed two months of games in the late winter. He returned in time for the playoffs and still managed to play a key role, often once again on a line with Adam Brooks and Trevor Moore like in last year’s playoffs.

It’s now a matter of whether or not he has sufficiently sharpened his skills to get his chance to make it to the Leafs.

Our voters had very mixed views of that possibility. Marchment has some of the highest variance in rankings for any player this year. Some left him unranked, while I have him at #13, and Hardev ranked him at #11.

Kevin had him at about the average rank. He thinks there may be some value to the Leafs having Marchment in the lineup.

Marchment is a pain in the ass to play against. Every opposing player seems to hate him, and he hits hard. He wins plenty of puck battles, is a strong net-front presence, and offers some takeaway ability with his long reach. He’s not all that fast, and he’s below average as a playmaker and transition player. He’s already 24, but he could provide a physical element to Toronto’s fourth line. He’s probably not going to bring much to the table in terms of wins above replacement (which is why he’s not all that high on my list), but he could bring an element that the Leafs are lacking. - Kevin

The net-front presence is something he has become known for, including the classic JvR style tip-ins, which he has said he really likes to do.

Will concurred with Kevin.

There is still a role for a big, heavy winger to play minor minutes in the NHL, and Marchment has the actual talent to put it all together in 2019. Not a ton of upside, but he could be a cheap role player if Toronto needs him. - Will

Is there actually any space for him on the Leafs?

My rank of #13 looks high relative to most of the other voters, but it doesn’t mean I think he’s guaranteed to make the Maple Leafs roster this NHL season. I still have no less than five bona fide NHL wingers ranked above him on the Top 25: William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson, and Trevor Moore. Plus there is also Zach Hyman, who is not eligible for this list. That’s a group of players he is not going to displace from the lineup. This issue also applies to several other Marlies wingers, notably Jeremy Bracco and Pierre Engvall.

The road to the bottom-six group of forwards on the Leafs has a lot of traffic on it already. Fulemin gets right to the point about where Marchment fits in that group.

I like the idea of Mason Marchment, and I was close to ranking him, but when I started gaming things out I found he was not as close to the NHL lineup as I originally thought. He’s 24 and he’s getting blocked from the lineup by guys who signed for $750K in the fourth week of July, and I couldn’t justify ranking another one of those guys after I made a sentimental ranking of Nic Petan. Marchment probably has a better chance of playing in the NHL than a lot of the other guys in this range though. - Fulemin

I want to believe

Our voters seem to agree Marchment can play an NHL role, but the variance stems from disagreement about the odds for that to happen. Can he show he’s the best of the group of fourth liners and get his opportunity?

One thing clear to me is that he would not be well served sitting around in the Leafs press box as the ‘13th forward’. If he doesn’t get that fourth line job he should be on the Marlies as a top line winger. Hardev notes he can use that time to demonstrate his game is at its absolute peak.

One thing Marchment needs to show before he gets that coveted call-up to the NHL is that he can play a productive game every night. He’s an emotional player, and when he gets going he’s pretty hard to stop in the AHL. His problem is that he can’t sustain that level for longer than a few games before he starts to take questionable penalties and begins to hurt his team. If he can find that balance, he brings a dimension that I heavily covet on this current Leafs team. - Hardev

I want to believe in Mason Marchment. I want him to get the payoff for all the work he’s done to come up from being undrafted to making it to the NHL. It’s tantalizingly close, yet so far away at the same time. At 24 years-old, the clock is ticking. His entry level contract will expire at the end of this coming season, and he will then be a restricted free agent.

I say give him the chance, Kyle.