Leafs Reassign Haymes and Villeneuve to AHL Toronto Marlies

The Toronto Maple Leafs sent forward Luke Haymes and defenseman William Villeneuve back to AHL Toronto on Wednesday morning, completing a pair of brief, debut-free NHL stints for two of the Marlies' most productive players. Neither dressed in a Leafs game.

The timing is pointed. The Marlies host the Utica Comets in a morning game Wednesday as part of a push to clinch a Calder Cup Playoffs berth, giving the returned pair a chance to contribute somewhere the standings still matter. The Leafs, meanwhile, are playing out a mathematically eliminated string with five games remaining against opponents that include the Capitals tonight.

Villeneuve's recall began Saturday after Oliver Ekman-Larsson suffered what the team described as an upper and lower body injury. The 24-year-old defenseman from Sherbrooke, Quebec, spent four days on the NHL roster without a shift. His 2025-26 numbers with Toronto made the call-up overdue in the eyes of many: three goals and 25 assists in 56 games, the most points of any Marlies blueliner. The 25 helpers also pushed his career total to 106 assists with the club, the most in franchise history among defensemen. He sits second behind T.J. Brennan on the all-time Marlies points list for defensemen, and he is only in his fourth professional season.

Haymes had even less time up top. The undrafted Dartmouth product was recalled on an emergency basis Tuesday morning and reassigned less than 24 hours later. His rookie AHL season tells the story of why the Leafs wanted him available: 17 goals and 15 assists in 63 games for a player no team thought enough of to select in the draft. He came on particularly strong in the second half, and at 23 he projects as a restricted free agent this summer for a franchise currently operating under co-interim general managers Brandon Pridham and Ryan Hardy.

There is a real chance both moves get reversed before the day is out. Pro Hockey Rumors noted Wednesday morning that the reassignments could be flipped in time for Haymes and Villeneuve to rejoin the Leafs for the evening game against Washington. The morning Marlies game and the evening Leafs game exist on the same calendar, which made the short paper transactions a logistical necessity rather than a statement of confidence.

For the Marlies, getting Villeneuve back on the blue line and Haymes back in the lineup for a game with playoff implications is exactly the kind of reinforcement that matters at this stage of the AHL schedule. For both players, the brief NHL stay ended without a debut, but the franchise record Villeneuve keeps extending and the rookie season Haymes keeps building suggest there will be more opportunities to make it count.