Semyon Der-Arguchintsev has been called up to the Leafs
By Jon Steitzer
1 year agoI feel like my years of learning how to spell Arguchintsev have finally paid off as the Leafs have recalled SDA.
The callup is a both a surprise and it is. The Leafs are generally pretty good about giving everyone their shot with the big club, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev is one of the few Marlies who hasn’t had his day. He’s not the highest scoring Marlie, and Steeves might have been my first choice for a recall, but like Steeves, Semyon Der-Arguchinstev is waivers exempt and doesn’t have some of the complications that other players might have if they were to stay for a prolonged period (it won’t be a prolonged period.)
Semyon also brings with him a high level of familiarity playing with Nick Robertson. If there is a way to get them both in the lineup during the same game, they could be an interesting sheltered fourth line, assuming they still get some grownup supervision on that line.
| SEASON | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | G | A | TP | PIM |
| 2016-17 | Peterborough Petes | OHL | 63 | 8 | 21 | 29 | 2 |
| 2017-18 | Peterborough Petes | OHL | 68 | 12 | 39 | 51 | 18 |
| 2018-19 | Peterborough Petes | OHL | 62 | 6 | 40 | 46 | 20 |
| Newfoundland Growlers | ECHL | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2019-20 | Peterborough Petes | OHL | 55 | 12 | 63 | 75 | 23 |
| 2020-21 | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod | KHL | 17 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| Toronto Marlies | AHL | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2021-22 | Toronto Marlies | AHL | 51 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 18 |
| 2022-23 | Toronto Marlies | AHL | 20 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 4 |
“[Der-Arguchintsev] was maybe one of the most improved players of the year.” Marlies head coach Greg Moore said after Toronto’s season came to a close. “Early in the season, I think it was getting used to the consistency, the pace of play, and the strength of the league. He started to put in a lot of work in the weight room, in practice, and the consistency of how hard he pushed himself to elevate physically and building stronger habits, which started to show up in the second half of the year. Way more competitive in game, really strong on pucks.“And obviously when he gets the puck through the middle of the rink, he’s pretty special in what he can create and what he can do, how he can think off of his teammates, how he can make his teammates look really good with getting them the puck in really tight areas. It’s unfortunate that he had a couple of injuries there that took him out when he was gaining that momentum. But he put in a lot of good work this year and really excited about the progress he made and where that can lead into next season.”
With SDA the Leafs are getting a look at another playmaking winger, a position that has typically worked out well for them in recent years. Where Der-Arguchintsev fits in from a Leafs line perspective is a mystery to me as he lacks the versatility that you’d expect to see in a potential bottom sixer and it’s hard to imagine they want to try him in the top six. It could just be a matter of getting him a few practices with the Leafs and allow him to draw an NHL paycheque for a while. Though typically if the Leafs announce the move they intend to play who they callup, so we’ll see what the plans are here.
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