Detroit Red Wings claim Dmytro Timashov off Waivers from Maple Leafs

The Detroit Red Wings made two trades on deadline day, but they also managed to steal Dmytro Timashov in a claim off waives from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

With the 2020 Trade Deadline finally passing, the Detroit Red Wings can evaluate whom they got and what picks they got in the two trades that were completed by General Manager Steve Yzerman. There is no way to compare the players with picks since they are yet to happen, but the best addition of the deadline may not even be a trade asset at all. Amid the trading, Yzerman claimed forward Dmytro Timashov off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs as a player who is quite underrated in the Maple Leafs organization.

Timashov has only played in thirty-nine games for the Maple Leafs in 2019-20, where he has scored four goals and tallied five assists for nine points on the season. The issue with Timashov was that he was playing bottom-six minutes, only averaging eight minutes of ice time over his thirty-nine games with the Maple Leafs. He now joins the terrible Red Wings with a chance to play middle-six to top-six forward minutes if he can excel offensively after a change of scenery to his new organization.

He is twenty-three years old, being drafted by the Maple Leafs in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. He made the move from overseas to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he played two seasons. Timashov then moved up to American Hockey League (AHL) were the Toronto Marlies where he would start to excel in 2018-19 registering forty-nine points over seventy-two games.

He may only be five-foot-ten, but he plays a physical game, making him hard to knock off the puck. At the AHL level, Timashov also was able to see some times on the special teams, playing substantially well on the power-play for the Marlies. He moves the puck well and seems to be able to find the open man, but lacking playing time, there was not much opportunity for him in Toronto while playing on the fourth line.

In terms of his contract, Timashov is on the books for the rest of the 2019-20 season, and then he becomes a restricted free agent this summer. The Red Wings should get a quick look at him, getting him ice time and decide whether he is worth bringing back to the organization for another year this offseason. He has the makings of a third-line forward, but if his offense can translate when he gets ice time, he could transition into a second-line forward.

Yzerman made an excellent call by claiming Timashov. Hopefully, he can pan out to be something similar to how Robby Fabbri benefitted immensely from the change of scenery. Timashov wanted out of Toronto with the lack of playing time and opportunities, so a revamped fresh start with the Detroit Red Wings may be the thing needed to kick start Timashov’s production.

Time will tell, and hopefully, with eighteen more games left on the year, he can turn some heads and impress before the offseason begins.