Maple Leafs and Blackhawks Organizations Swing a Trade Involving a Defenseman
A defenseman in the Maple Leafs organization has officially been traded to the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations.
In the thick of a very tight playoff race in the AHL's North Division, the Toronto Marlies have officially traded defenseman Matteo Pietroniro to the Chicago Blackhawks' AHL affiliate in the Rockford IceHogs.
The 26-year-old defenseman didn't feature in too many games this year as he suited up in just 5 contests. He went without a point, didn't accrue any PIMs, but finished off his Marlies' tenure with a plus-2 rating.
The undrafted prospect spent the better part of the last 4 years within the Toronto Maple Leafs' organization, splitting his time in the AHL with the Marlies and the ECHL with the former Newfoundland Growlers, who ceased operations last year.
Pietroniro recorded 5 goals and 30 points in 64 games with the Growlers in parts of 2 seasons and added 3 goals and 12 points in 99 games for the Marlies in parts of 4 seasons, including 9 points in 40 games last year.
He had also previously spent time in the SM-liiga in Finland in 2019-20 and with Bolzano HC of the ICE Hockey League in 2020-21, which features teams from Austria, Italty, Slovenia, and Hungary, as he looked for his chance with a club in North America.
Pietroniro now returns to Illinois, where he played some of his junior hockey with the Chicago Steel of the USHL in 2017-18 as well as 2018-19.
The Marlies currently sit in 4th place with a 17-7-2-3 record and trail the Rochester Americans by 6 points for the top spot, however they have 4 games in hand. In fact, they have 3-4 games in hand over all 3 teams they trail and they're set to face-off against one of them today in the Cleveland Monsters.
