As injuries start to work themselves out for the Red Wings, tough decisions must be made. In this case it was the loss of a young defenseman for a returning veteran.

Alexey Marchenko was placed on waivers to make space for Brendan Smith returning from injury. Today it was reported that Marchenko was claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Maple Leafs waived Frank Corrado to make space for the move.

Marchenko, 25, was in the midst of his 2nd full season in the NHL with the Red Wings. His NHL totals with the Red Wings are 110 games played, a +4 rating and three goals and 16 assists in the regular season. He played in six Red Wing platoff games and didn't register a point.

Just last offseason, Marchenko had signed a 2-year $2.9 million contract. That $1.45 million cap hit was more expensive than other young defensmen on the team like Xavier Ouellet ($715k), Ryan Sproul ($625k) and Nick Jensen ($587.5k) according to Cap Friendly.

The Red Wings are currently on 51 points in 51 games, seven points out of a playoff spot in both the Atlantic division and the eastern conference wild card race.

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