The Toronto Marlies played three games in a row against the Belleville Senators in the past week, winning two and losing one in a wild game. The net wins against a division rival have been critical for the team to get back on track to a solid division playoff spot.

The first in the series was last Saturday and the Marlies picked up the win in OT with a goal by defenceman Matt Benning.

The next was game was on Sunday in Belleville, and it was little messy, and by that I mean the Marlies lost the game 8-4 with both Slava Peksa and Artur Akhtyamov taking a punishment at the net, but also there was the third period, and I'll simply show you the penalties list for that period and you can imagine how the game sort of spiralled out of control.

Artur Akhtyamov

Outside of that messy game, Akhtyamov has been a key to success for the Marlies. Now having made his NHL debut with the Leafs, he seems even more comfortable and confident in net. Let's get to the highlight reel.

Luke Haymes was all in on Arty's performance, saying "he's unreal, he's been unreal all year," adding "His confidence is different. In practice you can see it's really hard to score on him, we try our best to, but he's really good at keeping it out of the net."

Speaking of Haymes...

Luke Haymes

Haymes has certainly come on to my radar as a player to watch in games. He's been working hard and has results to show for it. It was certainly evident in the game on Friday where he potted this goal set up by Borya Valis.

Haymes signed a two-year contract with the Leafs in March, coming out of the NCAA at Dartmouth College, and played in a handful of Marlies games last season. This season he's been on the ice for 26 games already, which is a big change for him as it's equivalent to over two-thirds of an NCAA season, but that's only one-third of the AHL season. The transition to playing triple the amount of hockey is going to take him some time.

Haymes noted this saying "in college we would have a week before our first game back from Christmas break, so it was definitely different, but I think the coaches made sure we really knew the systems, what to do, and took the thinking out of it so we could just play our game."

Gruden was complimentary of Haymes, but noted the young player still has some development to work on, saying "He's a very high IQ player. He uses his brain to get himself around the ice. Sometimes you want him to understand he can use his legs a little bit more to birng a little bit more energy, but I think he understands it," adding "obviously you saw the scoring ability there in that game winning goal."

Overall, he's a clear net-positive addition to the team, even contributing on the power play. Here he is setting up Logan Shaw last month.

Here's our Top 25 Under 25 report from the summer and you will note I actually did not rank him, which after paying a lot of attention to him at games this season is a clear oversight. I'm not sure I would put him as high as #15, though there's certainly several players on my list he should be above on the rankings (remember this is not simply a prospects list, but includes any Leafs contracted player under 25 years old).

2025 T25U25: Luke Haymes is #15
Haymes was one of the biggest NCAA free agents to sign a pro contract last year, and Toronto was the team to land him.
PPP LeafsBrian S

Next Games

There's no post-holiday rest for the Marlies, they are out in Utica today to play the Comets, which is hopefully a win considering the Comets' record this season of only 7 wins in 26 games, and that is followed by a trip to Cleveland to face the Monsters on December 30.

That kicks off a hectic start to 2026 where they will play six games through the first ten days the year, starting with a New Year's Day game at the Coliseum against the Syracuse Crunch, presently tied for first place in the division.

Here are those North Division standings as of last night. The Marlies have leapfrogged the Senators to fourth in the division by points, though they are still fifth by points% behind Cleveland.

Toronto Marlies