

Photo Credit: Christian Bonin/TSGPhoto.com

The Leafs organization has made a series of roster moves today, switching up the present league of as many as eight roster players. The moves are as follows.

Taylor Doherty has been released from his PTO with the Toronto Marlies. The 6’8 right-handed defenceman played twelve games with the team last year, but was yet to draw into the lineup for the team this season. Doherty signed a contract with the Orlando Solar Bears in July, so he’ll likely report there now.

Players definitely reporting to the Solar Bears is Mason Marchment. The 21-year-old left winger impressed in training camp but had no regular season games to show for it leading up to this point, after playing three last year. He’s been sent down to the ECHL to get some ice time.

In return, Toronto has called up left winger Chase Witala, defenceman Ty Stanton, and right winger TJ Foster from Orlando. None have had particularly electric starts; Witala has an assist in three games, Foster has five points in 12, and Stanton has a lone assist in then.

Relevant to Leafs fans’ interest, Josh Leivo’s conditioning stint has officially ended and, as a result, he heads back to the Leafs. On paper, this means the Leafs are at 24 healthy roster players; one more than the limit. Unless…

Soshnikov not currently listed on the Leafs roster. I think they swapped Sosh for Leivo. @JeffVeillette — Draglikepull (@draglikepull) November 20, 2016

Sure enough, Soshnikov is nowhere to be found on the official roster, though no paper transaction has been made yet. It’s something that has a few people disappointed if the Marlies are his intended destination, given his recent performances that have injected some puck control into the fourth line.

It’s worth nothing that Soshnikov is waiver exempt, which makes sending him down easier, and his name is probably the one that would create the least amount of controversy to have come up if it’s a quiet paper transaction while they buy themselves some time to make a further roster move. With neither team playing again until Tuesday once the Marlies finish their afternoon game against the IceCaps, the Leafs can spend tomorrow making a further decision, be it a trade, a waiving of a non-exempt player, or actually sending Soshnikov down. We’ll know for sure soon enough.





