21-year-old Maple Leafs prospect's career may have come to an end

With the Leafs desperately needing to get out of the final year of Patrick Marleau's contract in the summer of 2019, Kyle Dubas traded away their first round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes as a sweetener for the Canes to take on Marleau's deal and buy him out. That pick ended up being 13th overall, with the Hurricanes using it to select Portland Winterhawks forward Seth Jarvis.

The Leafs were able to trade back into the 1st round in the summer of 2020 by trading Kasperi Kapanen back to Pittsburgh. They used that pick (15th overall) to select Rodion Amirov, a Russian winger who was one of the KHL's top prospects.

Unfortunately for Amirov and the Leafs, early in 2022, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was sent to Germany for treatment. Since then, Amirov, Salavat Yulayev and the Leafs have all been very quiet about the situation, not providing many updates to speak of.

On Sunday, a popular Leafs Twitter account had inquired about the status of Amirov and whether or not anyone had an update. One representative from The Score quote tweeted the inquiry suggesting that the 21-year-old's career may actually be over.

As Cushman pointed out, the Leafs and Salavat Yulayev had renewed Amirov's loan to the KHL club, but while some took this as a sign that he was expected to return this season, Cushman's thoughts on the subject are that the loan had more to do with keeping Amirov around the team and its staff. There's been no mention of a possible return this season, nor has there been any report suggesting that Amirov had resumed his training with the team.

The number one concern in all of this remains Amirov's health. Battling a brain tumor at 21 years old is a worst nightmare scenario. At this point, we're all more concerned about Amirov's health and wishing him a speedy recovery so he can get back to living his life. Hockey isn't really the primary concern.

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