There is a reason the Toronto Maple Leafs had Frank Corrado stuffed in the press box, chained and padlocked the door, and hung a sign on the tiny window pane reading: “In case of emergency, break glass.”
Toronto’s most talented defenceman, Morgan Rielly, went down awkwardly and then out indefinitely during Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over Buffalo. By Wednesday, there was broken glass everywhere.
Corrado had been freed.
It took 42 games, but the 23-year-old’s time, as coach Mike Babcock predicted, has arrived. We knew it would take a significant injury, probably two, for the eighth man on the Leafs’ defensive depth chart to get an opportunity. Rielly is ruled out for Thursday’s match versus the New York Rangers and questionable for the weekend.
Martin Marincin is skating again, but he’s on injured reserve, where he has been since crashing into the TD Garden boards on Dec. 10.
So this is why the wealthy Leafs could pay Corrado to not play hockey, why they’ve been hesitant to throw the kid on waivers and risk losing him for nothing — even if his time in limbo came at the expense of his development.
A leading candidate for the Lifetime Healthy Scratch Achievement Award, the fifth-rounder was memorably swiped off waivers from Vancouver in the fall of 2015 only to squeeze into 39 games during the Leafs’ tank year and just one lonely NHL game — a forgettable 16-minute, one-penalty, zero-point showing versus powerhouse Pittsburgh on Nov. 12 — this season.
“I’m a hockey player, so it’s nice to play hockey,” Corrado told reporters Wednesday. “When you’re not playing, don’t think about it too much.”
The defenceman has been patient and mostly quiet and polite about his situation publicly. Understandably, Corrado’s frustration has been on simmer, but unlike Peter Holland, with whom he shares an agent, Corrado has stayed the course, not pressing for a trade despite the perception that he’s not “a Babcock guy.”
So his shot begins Thursday, against the NHL’s second-best offence, alongside Connor Carrick on the third pair. Time for Corrado to prove himself worthy, to earn it. The longer he’s sat, the more he’s been cast as somewhat of a sympathetic character in hockey circles. His play could reinforce or disintegrate that notion.
Though the length of this opportunity is vague.
Expect the increasingly dependable Jake Gardiner, Nikita Zaitsev and Matt Hunwick to pick up the most slack left by Rielly, who’s listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
“I think we have a pretty good idea of what’s going on,” Rielly said. “I’m happy that I’m walking around and everything, feeling better than I was yesterday, and that’s the most important thing.”
It took half a season, but the timing is right for the right shot’s shot. As a lefty, a healthy Marincin would be the preferred choice to replace the left-shooting Rielly, but Corrado is fresh off a seven-game conditioning stint with the AHL Marlies, champing at the bit.
“A good opportunity for Frankie. He’s ready to go,” said Babcock, who caught the D-man’s Marlies work on TV. “He went down there, worked real hard and tried to be a real good pro, which I think is important when you’re a veteran guy and you go down and play with those kids. So that’s positive and now he gets his opportunity here.”
Corrado amassed three assists, 17 shots, six penalty minutes, and a plus-2 rating during his stint.
“Early on he was really good, outstanding, a real standout on the ice. I thought he was a little more human and blended in amongst the group for the remainder of the games,” Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters earlier this month.
“I thought he showed signs of fatigue and just not being the same player that he was in the early stages. His competition also increased as the games went… He led our team in ice time in virtually every game he played, and for a guy who hasn’t played, I’m sure that was a factor.”
Interesting assessment.
Remember: Corrado is a restricted free agent, once again, this summer. Every game will be a tryout.
Keefe also said something that needn’t be: “I know he was excited to play.”