Malgin traded to Maple Leafs by Panthers for Marchment

Denis Malgin will play for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday after he was traded by the Florida Panthers for Mason Marchment on Wednesday.

Each forward can become a restricted free agent July 1.

Malgin has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 36 games this season and 60 points (28 goals, 32 assists) in 184 games through four NHL seasons, all with the Panthers. Toronto hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second game of a home-and-home (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, TSN4, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV) .

"He gives us another NHL player and has a lot of skill and can do a lot of things we like to do," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of Malgin (5-foot-9, 177 pounds). "(Assistant) Paul McFarland is familiar with him, and when he talks about him, he says he's not just a small skilled guy but he's a competitor as well, wants to do well, and when he's played with good players he's succeeded.

"It hasn't gone as well for him this year, but we need a little extra depth and we think we've got a guy like that now."

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Malgin played with Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2015-16. His NHL career highs in goals (11), assists (11) and points (22) came in 51 games in 2017-18.

"He's a small guy but he's really skilled," Matthews said. "He's really shifty and elusive and a good skater and sees the ice well. It'll be nice to have a familiar face around the locker room. I'm looking forward to seeing him. He's somebody who likes to work on his game quite a bit. I'm sure he'll fit in just fine."

The Maple Leafs (31-22-8), who are tied with the Florida Panthers for third place in the Atlantic Division, are 3-5-1 in their past nine.

Toronto was in the market for a forward after it announced Andreas Johnsson would be out the rest of the season because of knee surgery Wednesday. The Maple Leafs are also without forward Ilya Mikheyev, who has missed 22 games because of a lacerated wrist but is expected to return before the end of the regular season.

Marchment, the son of former NHL defenseman Bryan Marchment, made his NHL debut Jan. 2 and has one assist in four games.

The Panthers (32-22-6) trail the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets by two points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference after a 4-1 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.