The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced the signing of 18 year old Carter Verhaeghe to a three year entry level deal. He’ll report to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League effective immediately.

Verhagehe was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the third round (82nd overall) in last year’s NHL Entry Draft. He built a reputation before draft day as a two way forward, but has made vast strides offensively this year, scoring 28 goals and 54 assists in 65 games, first on the Niagara IceDogs. He went from being unranked in our pre-season prospect list, to 11th in the midterm charts. For more information, check out Justin Fisher’s post from Draft Day.

Unfortunately for him, the Marlies have a lot of forwards, and they’re basically all healthy at the moment, particularly down the middle. He’ll be competing with Peter Holland, Trevor Smith, Greg McKegg, Sam Carrick, and Jarred Smithson for minutes. Thankfully for him, Steve Spott is preaching the benefits of rotation and making everybody feel like they’re “part of the team”, and the Marlies could have as many as nine games with a clinched playoff spot and more room to experiment.