Leafs Send Groulx to Marlies After Nine Games, Preserving AHL Playoff Eligibility

Nine games was the number that mattered. Bo Groulx, a French-born Canadian forward under contract to the Toronto Maple Leafs, was returned to the AHL's Toronto Marlies on Friday in a transaction that is less about his performance and more about a quirk of roster rules that any serious AHL follower should understand cold.

Groulx was born in Rouen, France but grew up in Gatineau, Quebec. He is 26 years old. Before Friday, he was making a credible case to stick with the big club: three goals, two assists, a plus-five rating, and 15:29 of average ice time per game across his nine appearances with the Maple Leafs this season. That is a legitimate two-way workload for a call-up forward, not just a warmth spot on the fourth line.

But the Leafs were never going to let him play a 10th game. Groulx had been leading the Toronto Marlies in scoring in 2025-26 before his recall, and the organization's priority right now is getting him back into that lineup for the stretch run. The waiver rules forced the timeline. With nine NHL games logged, the Leafs could send him directly to the AHL without exposing him to waivers. One more game and that math flips: at 10 games, Groulx would have had to clear waivers to return to the minors, putting him at risk of being claimed by another NHL franchise. That is not a gamble the organization was willing to take.

TSN's Mark Masters laid out the fork in the road plainly, writing on X: "Could still rejoin Leafs at some point down the stretch, but it would need to be an emergency recall."

That phrasing is significant. An emergency recall is not a standard call-up; it requires specific conditions, typically an injury or roster shortage, to be triggered. Barring something going sideways on the Leafs' blue line of forwards, Groulx's NHL season is effectively over. His AHL numbers this season tell the story of why the Marlies want him back: Groulx had recorded the primary assist on Vinni Lettieri's goal in a recent Marlies game, and he sits at 34 points, including 19 goals and 15 assists, in 40 AHL games this season. That production is exactly what a Marlies team eyeing a playoff run needs in the lineup.

The last game of the 2025-26 AHL regular season is scheduled for Sunday, April 19, with the Calder Cup playoffs typically beginning a few days after the conclusion of the regular season. Every game Groulx plays for the Marlies between now and then builds toward eligibility and playoff timing. The Leafs preserved that option precisely by pulling him back one game before the threshold.

For Groulx, the nine-game stint was a proof-of-concept audition at the NHL level. The production was real. The ice time was genuine. But the organization's calculus is clear: his value to the Leafs' future is better served by leading a Marlies playoff run than by adding a 10th game to a Toronto roster that, at 28-27-12, has little left to play for on its own ice.