The Maple Leafs have invited undrafted 20-year-old right winger Michael Joly, teammate of Frederik Gauthier on Rimouski Oceanic, to their training camp in the Fall, according to TVA Sports.
Joly, a May ’95 birthdate, scored 44 goals in 64 games primarily as an 18 year old (in his draft year + 1 season) in 2013-14, adding nine more goals in ten playoff games in the Spring of 2014.
While his 2014-15 season was partly curtailed by an injury, he scored 26 goals in 45 games before another big playoff performance, scoring 12 goals and 21 points in 20 games, including this dramatic double-OT Game 7 overtime winner in the QMJHL finals:
Joly added two goals and six points in four Mem Cup games.
Undersized at 5’11, 172-pounds, Joly was twice passed over at the NHL entry draft. The Buffalo Sabres invited him to attend their training camp last Fall.
All sorts of undrafted players get invited to training camp and this obviously means little, but the Leafs have seen Joly quite a bit in their monitoring of Gauthier and appear to be eager enough to invite him this early in the summer after the conclusion of Joly’s Memorial Cup appearance with Rimouski.
