The Leafs have made a defensive swap of right-shooting depth defenders today.  They have claimed Alexey Marchenko (also known as Alexei) from the Detroit Red Wings,.  To make room on the roster, they have also waived Frank Corrado.

Corrado, who has appeared in two games for the Leafs this season, turning in unimpressive performances in both, was originally claimed by the Maple Leafs from the Vancouver Canucks.  He has lived in limbo ever since.  If he is claimed, he will move on to a new team and try his luck there.  He would right now, likely make the playing roster of the Colorado Avalanche without difficulty. If he clears, he can be assigned to the Toronto Marlies, who certainly would find him very useful.

Marchenko just turned 25, is known to Mike Babcock, and is not a superstar. He is a good basic defender.  He has played with Nikita Zaitsev in the past, most recently as a pair at the World Championships last spring, where together they had the best performance of any Russian defenders even though they were relegated to a depth role.

This season has not been a bit of a struggle for Marchenko, and the Red Wings declared him surplus to requirements when one of their other defenders came off of IR.  He is a good penalty killing defender as well as having historically good Corsi stats.

Marchenko is under contract through next season with a $1,450,000 cap hit both this year and next.  His remaining cap hit for this season is $523,611 as per Cap Friendly, so he is not pressuring the Leafs overall cap situation this year very badly.

We’ll have more on the newest member of the Toronto Maple Leafs when I stop jumping up and down and shouting, they did it, they did it.