The Toronto Marlies have made more additions to their club ahead of next season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate announced on Tuesday that they've signed Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, Ben King, and Nick Rheaume to one-year AHL contracts. They've also re-signed Marko Sikic and defenceman Ryan McCleary to one-year deals.
Let's begin with Rheaume, who was most recently at Maple Leafs development camp last week. The 23-year-old is coming off his third season of college hockey—his first with Northeastern University—where he scored four points (two goals, two assists) in 37 games. Rheaume has 21 points (14 goals, seven assists) in 98 games over three years with Northeastern and UMass Lowell.
Nick is the son of former NHLer Pascal Rheaume and nephew of Women's hockey legend Manon Rheaume.
"He's just a really nice kid, wants to play professional hockey so badly, works as hard as he possibly could," Maple Leafs assistant GM, player development, Hayley Wickenheiser said at Toronto's development camp. "That whole family with his dad Pascal and Manon, there's no surprise that he's willed himself to this point in his career."
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Fontaine was initially a seventh-round (202nd overall) pick by the Nashville Predators in 2020. The 24-year-old just finished up his fifth season of college hockey, scoring 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points in 40 games with Ohio State University.
Before last season, Fontaine played four years at Northeastern, where he recorded 32 goals and 65 assists in 131 games. He also spent two years with the USHL's Chicago Steel, scoring 100 points (46 goals, 54 assists) in 105 games. Fontaine played five games with the AHL's Iowa Wild on an amateur tryout last season and didn't register a point.
Fontaine attended Maple Leafs development camp in 2019.
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Previously a fourth-round (107th overall) pick by the Anaheim Ducks in 2022, King just finished up his second season of professional hockey. After leaving junior, the 23-year-old spent his first year of pro with the AHL's San Diego Gulls, where he had 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) in 61 games.
King then signed a one-year AHL contract with the Manitoba Moose last summer. The 6-foot-3 forward scored 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 64 games with the club this past season. In his second-last season with the WHL's Red Deer Rebels, King finished atop the league with 52 goals, one more than 2023 first-overall pick Conor Bedard, who was in his second season of junior.
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Sikic is coming off his first year of pro hockey after signing a one-year AHL contract with the Marlies last summer. The 22-year-old forward had nine goals and nine assists in 64 games with the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones last season. He attended Toronto's 2024 development camp.
The Kitchener, Ontario-born forward had 57 points (18 goals, 39 assists) in 66 games during his final season of junior hockey with the OHL's Sarnia Sting in 2023-24.
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McCleary spent last season with the Cyclones, where he scored five goals and seven assists in 69 ECHL games. The former seventh-round (194th overall) pick in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins attended Toronto's development camp last summer.
Before entering the Maple Leafs organization, the defenseman had 104 points (32 goals, 72 assists) in 203 WHL games with the Portland Winterhawks (three seasons) and the Swift Current Broncos (one season).
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Toronto also inked forwards Marc Johnstone and Reese Johnson, and goaltender Ken Appleby to contracts on Monday afternoon.
(Top photo of Sikic: Bailey McLean / Toronto Marlies)