MAPLE LEAFS REPORTEDLY SIGN DEPTH DEFENCEMAN DAKOTA MERMIS
While there are no direct reports of Dakota Mermis signing in Toronto, Maple Leafs beat reporter Jonas Siegel noted that Mermis has now appeared on the Leafs roster on their website.
As Siegel noted in his tweet, Mermis played 47 games last season, averaging 14 minutes a night. That firmly puts him in a 7/8th defenceman role that was getting sheltered duty when he was in the lineup. He’s 6’0 with a left shot, and additionally played 5 games for the Iowa Wild in the AHL. He was their captain for those games and could fill a similar role with the Marlies this year as it is unlikely that he’ll be leapfrogging Hakanpaa, Benoit, or Timmins on the depth chart.
Mermis has spent the past seven seasons bouncing back and forth between the AHL and the NHL and last year he spent more time in the NHL than any other year. It’s likely he’ll be pushing to keep that going but this is a signing with AHL depth in mind. Mermis was a part of the London Knights organization at the same time as Stolarz, Domi, and Marner, so there is some familiarity with the group and after years of the Maple Leafs being a Soo team, they seem to be reverting to loving their former Knights.
The numbers on Mermis in his limited NHL time are 45 hits and 59 blocks in his 47 games last season. He picked up 8 points as well.
There have been bizarre website roster mishaps in the past, so by no means is this a confirmed signing for the Maple Leafs nor are any contract details available yet, but with Brad Treliving hinting on Monday that there were still a couple of depth signings in the works, it seems reasonable to believe that this is one of them. We will update when we know more.
Data from Hockey Reference.
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2024-07-02T22:26:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd