The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a few players in the past who you never would have expected would become a regular contributor on the team down the line. Bobby McMann is a perfect example of this. The Leafs signed him to a two-year AHL contract as a 24-year-old following his college career, and he spent his first season in the organization split between the Toronto Marlies and the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder. Now age 28, McMann is a regular middle-six skater for the Leafs and has 15 goals in 44 games, effectively emerging as one of their top secondary scorers.

Nobody would have placed their bets on McMann cracking the NHL when the Leafs signed him, let alone contributing as much as he has. He took the road less travelled to the NHL, keeping his name under the radar until people couldn’t ignore him anymore, and now he’s a regular on the roster. The Maple Leafs might have another McMann-type on the roster, only on defence. His name is Marshall Rifai.

You’ve probably heard Rifai’s name before. Like McMann, he was signed by the Leafs in his mid-20s following his college career. He spent three years at Harvard University, and simply put, he wasn’t signed for his goals and assists. In his final season with Harvard, he recorded 13 points in 35 games before signing a one-year deal with the Marlies, despite multiple offers from NHL teams. He played his first full season with the Marlies in 2022-23, scoring four goals and adding 16 points in 69 games, and got his first taste of NHL action with the Leafs in 2023-24, skating in two games in the midst of a barrage of injuries to their defensive corps in February of that year.

Rifai hasn’t heard his name called yet this year, at least not to lace up the skates for the Leafs. He’s got three goals and six points in 34 AHL games this year, and given the fact that the majority of Toronto’s issues on defence lie in breaking the puck out and getting offence from their defencemen, it makes sense that Rifai hasn’t been considered. Pair that with the fact that the Leafs seem to have a rotating bottom three of Simon Benoit, Conor Timmins, and Philippe Myers, all of whom have far more NHL experience than Rifai, and he’s got a bit of an uphill trek to get that first NHL game under his belt in 2024-25. Still, that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get a look at some point.

The idea for this article was sparked when it was announced that Oliver Ekman-Larsson left Saturday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers with an injury. It doesn’t appear he’ll miss much time if any, so Rifai will have to wait for his call-up, but when injuries inevitably do happen, he’s a perfect candidate to get some reps in. He’s sturdy defensively, effective at boxing out the front of his net, and he’s arguably one of the toughest players in the organization. He’s never been shy about standing up for his teammates, and this was on display in the Leafs’ infamous preseason game against Montreal that saw Cedric Pare injure Patrik Laine with a knee-on-knee hit. After throwing a hit that injured Montreal Canadiens top prospect David Reinbacher, he happily answered the bell when Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky challenged him to a fight.

Look, obviously, no NHL team should be calling somebody up because of a fight, but look at the crazy look in Rifai’s eyes after this fight and tell me that’s not the type of energy every team yearns to have on their bench. In a day and age when enforcers have been more or less phased out (Ryan Reaves only had his first fight of the season two weeks ago), there’s a fine line to walk between being a player who can drop the gloves and somebody who can contribute in other areas of the game. That’s why Rifai deserves to be the next man up. In his first and only stint in the NHL, he stepped in when Rielly was serving his suspension for cross-checking Ottawa’s Ridly Greig in the face. Being a rookie and suiting up for a depleted defensive corps for a team with a bucket of pressure on them like the Leafs would typically be a death sentence, but Rifai blended into the background and didn’t have the announcers saying his name all that often, which, ask any coach, this is all you can ask of a rookie defenceman.

Benoit, Timmins, and Myers have all earned their NHL jobs this season, but let’s be honest, none of them have necessarily played well enough to absolve themselves from being scratched besides the fact that they’ve got more experience. And if the Leafs find themselves in a situation where they need to call in reinforcements, Rifai should be the next man up. Best case scenario, he wows the Leafs coaching staff enough to strong-arm his way onto the roster for the rest of the season and potentially as a black ace in the playoffs. Worst case, he blends in but doesn’t impress enough to stick with the team this year, but plants a seed in the Leafs’ brain for a potential roster spot next season. Either way, he’s proven that he’s deserving of a shot.