Leafs to Waive Mark Arcobello (updated)

With Bozak returning to the lineup, Spaling likely to be back soon too, and Mike Babcock’s new found appreciation of Byron Froese being a thing, it seemed like something was bound to give with the Leafs forward group. 

Yesterday I made my case for why Peter Holland shouldn’t be a victim of this low end depth, and today it appears the odd man out has been chosen:

No one in hockey understands that waivers are part of life more than Mark Arcobello who bounced from Predators to the Penguins, and then over to the Coyotes via waivers last season after starting the year in Edmonton. It’s safe to say he’s probably been renting and hasn’t bought property and most of his stuff is likely in suitcases already.

In his seven games as a Leaf, Mark Arcobello has been held pointless, played an average of 11:20 minutes a night, and has a 1.9 CF% Rel with a cushy 12.4 ZSO%Rel. It’s hard to make a case for him ahead of younger players like Froese, Bailey, etc. that the Leafs are wanting to try out.

It’s safe to say the only person that will miss Mark Arcobello is our own Cat Silverman who had this to say about Arcobello in our preseason player profiles. 

Well. I guess we now know what camp Mike Babcock and Lou Lamoriello fall into. In the event that Arcobello clears waivers, he’s an excellent addition to the Marlies and he’ll give Sheldon Keefe a solid veteran option who can lineup at any forward position. He’d also potentially be a solid recall for the Leafs later on if the injury bug returns. In the event he’s claimed, the Leafs see $1.1M of cap space come available, as well as another player contract (if unclaimed, $950k comes off the cap). 

For the sake of Cat, let’s hope that the Coyotes or the Bruins put in a claim.