Henry Thrun's emergency recall is a crucial 2027 audition for the Maple Leafs' blue line

On Sunday, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was preparing to take on the Minnesota Wild but now he needs to head back home. With a child on the way, Ekman-Larsson felt it was best to be with his wife, and flew back to Toronto.

But that led to an emergency call-up from the Toronto Marlies as the team needs six defencemen, and settled on Henry Thrun - who could make a big impact in the future.

Thrun, 25, was acquired in the Ryan Reaves trade last season with the San Jose Sharks. In four games this season he has zero points, a minus-1 rating, four blocks and three hits in 14:52 TOI.

It will be a great audition for the young defenceman especially since the team is likely going through many changes this summer. Ekman-Larsson is likely safe, but names like Morgan Rielly, Simon Benoit, and Brandon Carlo are going to be looked at as on the outs.

Thrun is an interesting case, as he has four years of experience but only 123 games. Yet, he's had some serious ice time and San Jose clearly valued him enough to stick him out there for 20 minutes.

Yes, this came at a time when they were also not very good but trusting your 20-year old to take the reins still shows that he held some potential they wanted to explore.

He's also a big body at 6-foot-2 and 211 pounds, and if Toronto is going to move on from guys like Benoit and Carlo then he makes a lot of sense to put in the lineup heading into 2026-27.

He'll have his hands full against a strong Minnesota team, however has three points in six career games so be on the lookout for him to potentially add to that tonight.

More details to come.

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