Conor Timmins, a defenseman, was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Arizona Coyotes to assist the team’s struggling blue line. After two seasons with the Coyotes organization, the 24-year-old product of Thorold, Ontario, joins the blue and white. This year, he has split his time between the big club and the AHL Tucson; before that, he spent two seasons in the Colorado Avalanche organization. Coming out of junior, he was a highly anticipated prospect, but he started having some injury issues at the close of his junior career. While his brain, knowledge, and ability to make plays and be dependable both offensively and defensively speak more to his competitiveness than anything else, in my opinion.

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The right-handed defender, who the Avalanche selected in the 32nd round of the 2017 NHL Draft, Timmins, who had 115 points in three seasons with the OHL’s Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds, initially made the transition to the pros as a bright prospect before injuries slowed his development. Timmins, who eventually played a crucial role in the deal that moved goaltender Darcy Kuemper from Arizona to Colorado, has made 41 NHL appearances, registered seven points in his career, and has played an average of little under 14 minutes per game.

Timmins will now catch up with Rasmus, a former teammate from the Greyhounds, and Dubas, who was still working in the front office when the Toronto team selected Timmins in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft. He’ll have the chance to improve on his big-league stats. With the 2022–23 season already off to a rocky start, the Maple Leafs are now without its top three defensemen due to injuries to Morgan Rielly, T.J. Brodie, and Jake Muzzin. While Rielly is recovering from a knee strain, Brodie is still out with an oblique injury. There are more considerable doubts about whether Toronto will ever see Muzzin don a Leaf’s jersey again. Rielly was placed on long-term injured reserve on Tuesday.