Maple Leafs sign prospect who posted 132 penalty minutes last season

Around this time last year, the Maple Leafs announced that they had locked up Zach Solow and 4 other young players to AHL deals. That seems like ancient history now, but id you're curious to know more about that story, it can be found here: Five young players re-sign in Toronto on one-year deals.

Solow must have left a very strong impression on the organization this past season, because the Marlies have announced on Saturday that they're bringing Solow back for another season after a year in which he posted 132 PIMs, as mentioned above, as well as 11 goals and 15 assists in 66 games with the Marlies.

The 25-year-old from Naples, Florida is an undrafted winger who played his NCAA career with Northeastern University. At 5'9, 176 lbs, he's not the biggest dog in the yard, but as we all know, it's not about the size of the dog in the fight, it's about the size of the fight in the dog and Solow seems to have really embraced being more physically engaged after nearly doubling his previous career high in penalty minutes as a pro last season.

Will Solow get a look at the NHL level this season? No, likely not, but it's always good to have competitive players within the organization to continue to push other players on the team to be at the top of their game. At the very least, Solow is a good energy guy in the AHL who can help drag some of the other guys with the Marlies into the fight, including some of the organization's other prospects who do have a shot to get an NHL look this season.

Source for Solow's stats: Elite Prospects
Zach Solow stats and bio