Standing in at 6’8″ 245 lbs., you can’t really say Toronto Marlies are taking a chance on with an AHL contract, as much as opening up room for recent University Of Maine Black Bears‘ graduate student Keenan Suthers(34) in the 2022/2023 season.
He scored a tying college career high 9 goals and 5 assists in his 3rd season at St. Lawrence University Saints, and also connected for 13 points in 2021/2022, which is where he seems to sit in roughly 30 NCAA Division 1 games played.
It’s very likely considering his size, the 24-year old from Tecumseh, ON could easily open up some room for himself in front of the net for more scoring chances than were available to him in college hockey.
Keenan looks to be another big man that the Leafs organization has signed over the last 5-7 years (ala Martin Marincin, Curtis Douglas and Radim Zahorna), Law of averages may be the hope here as should the Leafs get a serviceable player of this stature without burning a draft selection, they win. Like Curtis Douglas in the AHL, Keenan appears to be gaining confidence at the ECHL level and is benefitting from the guideline of the Leafs Development program as evidenced by his progress this year.