Kyle Dubas signs KHL defenseman to the roster.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a relatively minor addition on Saturday when they signed a defenseman from the Kontinental Hockey League to their roster.

That defenseman is 24 year old Brennan Menell who agreed to a two way deal with the Maple Leafs that will pay him the league minimum of $750,000 at the National Hockey League level and $400,000 at the American Hockey League level. Menell was acquired earlier this week when the Maple Leafs announced a trade on the same day free agency opened across the NHL, receiving the young defenseman from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a conditional 7th round draft selection at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. The condition on the pick is that Menell plays 30 games with the Leafs, and to be honest there's no guarantee that he will see that much action in season in spite of his new deal.

Menell was acquired from the Wild but he spent his previous season playing in the Kontinental Hockey League with Minsk Dynamo, and it was with that organization that he would have something of a breakout season for himself. The blue liner appeared in 47 KHL games over the course of the regular season, recording 5 goals and 33 assists for a very impressive 38 total points. In the playoffs he was even better however with 1 goal and 6 assists for a total of 7 points through just 7 playoff games. It was no doubt his performance in the KHL this season that put him on the Maples Leafs' radar in the first place.

In spite of never really cracking an NHL roster full time, Menell does have some experience at the NHL level which came during the 2019 - 2020 regular season when he suited up in 5 games for the Minnesota Wild. In those games he had no points, 2 penalty minutes and finished with a plus minus rating of +1. That coincided with his best season in the AHL where he had 5 goals and 42 assists for 47 points in 57 games as a member of the Iowa Wild, all of which seems to indicate that the undrafted Menell is something of a late bloomer.