Two years ago during free agency, Chris Mueller signed a two-year NHL contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. If the name escapes you, then you aren’t a Marlies watcher, but you might have seen Mueller in preseason games this season and last. At the time he was signed, there was some consternation that the Leafs were “wasting” an NHL contract on a player who had, at that time, 578 AHL games played and 53 in the NHL.
Mueller finished his first season with the Leafs playing no NHL games, but scoring 52 points in 73 games for the Marlies, which was only good enough to be third behind Ben Smith and Andreas Johnsson.