The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Mark Arcobello of the Toronto Marlies ahead of tonight’s tilt versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After dropping the second of a home-and-home series with the New York Islanders, Toronto originally planned to hit the reset with James Reimer taking the net. After experiencing “tightness” due to his relief assignment last night in the third, Jonathan Bernier once again gets a shot at redemption with Antoine Bibeau joining the club as backup on an emergency basis.
Arcobello handled his demotion to the Leafs’ AHL affiliate like a complete pro, and returns to the bigs with a very impressive 27 points across 23 contests. Twelve of those being goals, along with fifteen helpers.
The undersized but skilled Arcobello was signed to a one-year deal by the Leafs, and was held pointless across seven games before being reassigned to the Marlies.
Toronto is the undrafted American forward’s fifth NHL club, having previously played for the Edmonton Oilers, the Nashville Predators, The Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Arizona Coyotes.
Arcobello will look to stick and stay with the big club, at least until the trade deadline, where playoff contenders may look to the Leafs organization for some inexpensive depth in the form of a secondary scorer. Toronto will have a number of options available to potential suitors, including P.A. Parenteau, Michael Grabner, Brad Boyes, Shawn Matthias, and the aforementioned Arcobello, should he find his stride at the NHL level over the next month and a half. Of the bunch, Grabner has been really catching fire of late on the top line, with Parenteau not far behind. Either or both could fetch futures for the rebuilding Leafs by the February 29 trade deadline.
Under head coach Mike Babcock’s tutelage, Toronto has flirted with becoming a .500 hockey club for much of the latter part of December, much to the chagrin of “tank nation”; that fan contingent who covet a chance to draft a franchise piece such as unanimously-anointed future first overall pick Auston Matthews.
