Kyle Dubas has a tough decision ahead of him. Leafs prospect Semyon Der-Arguchintsev has been an on an absolute tear to start his season with the Marlies with 14 points in 14 games. The Moscow native, nicknamed SDA, was picked in the 3rd round of the 2018 NHL entry draft, one round after his then Peterborough Petes teammate Nick Robertson. The duo absolutely demolished their competition in the OHL during the 2019-2020 season. Robertson was the trigger man with 55 goals and 86 points in 46 games. Der-Arguchintsev was the Marner to Robertson's Matthews with 12 goals and a whopping 63 assists in 55 games.
When they graduated to the Toronto Marlies, Robertson and Der-Arguchinstev continued to show incredible chemistry, once again combining to score at a pretty solid rate. Unfortunately, SDA faces the same obstacle that Robertson does: Size. At just 5'10" and 178lbs, SDA would be one of the smaller players in the NHL. His offensive skillset is impressive, and he looks great on the stats sheets, but he's not the type of player that fits into the Leafs' defense heavy bottom 6 and he's not exactly a top-6 caliber forward.
So, what does a team with Stanley Cup aspirations and a closing window do with a prospect that has a lot of tools, but not the right ones to be a realistic candidate to make the big club? The answer, in my opinion, is to offer him up as trade bait. Der-Arguchintsev has the skills to play in the NHL and with his run of impressive play, he has some trade value. The Leafs could, and should, include him in a package to bring in some help for their upcoming, hopefully deep, playoff run. Otherwise, they run the risk of missing out on getting value out of a player that in extremely unlikely to make the team as it is currently constructed.
Without a contract for next season in place, Dubas can't afford to allow the Leafs to lose another Game 7 if he wants to keep his job. The Leafs have a need to improve depth at D and somehow add a top 6 forward. Der-Arguchintsev is currently on an ELC, which means trading him opens up a much-needed contract slot for the Leafs, who currently sit at the limit with 50. Trading him makes sense on a lot of levels, as long as the return helps the Leafs this season, I see no reason why Dubas shouldn't pull the trigger on trading him.
