Matt Finn is a tale of many a highly ranked Toronto Maple Leafs draft selection that failed to work out.

The defenseman was a stalwart for the Guelph Storm and captained the OHL club for his last two years in junior.
Drafted 35th overall by Toronto in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, hopes were high for the Ontario native the year after he helped Guelph win an OHL Championship and led the league with a plus/minus rating of 57.

However, Finn failed to impress in his rookie year, suiting up in just 28 games for the Toronto Marlies during which he accumulated three points (1-2-3).
There was also a stint in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears for whom he recorded a goal and an assist in eight outings.

It was an all too brief stay for the Canadian defenseman with the team who drafted him.
General Manager Lou Lamoriello shipped out Taylor Beck, Matthew Finn, Christopher Gibson, Tom Nilsson and Carter Verhaeghe to the New York Islanders in exchange for Michael Grabner.

It was dumping of NHL contracts to create roster space and Toronto washed their hands with the 35th overall pick after one season.

During the final two years of his entry-level contract, Finn would not feature in the NHL and made just 35 AHL appearances for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

A free-agent in the summer of 2017, the Etobicoke native opted to continue his career in North America but injury limited him to 15 games the following season.

In 2018-19, Finn signed with ECHL club Florida Everblades and had three short AHL loan spells with Grand Rapids Griffins, Hartford Wolf Pack and Ontario Reign. None of those turned into a regular AHL gig and it was time for a new start overseas.

Austria is a spectacular place to land for your first overseas job and Finn signed in Linz with the Black Wings 1992.

It was a promising first season outside of North American with 22 points in 39 games including six goals.

This wasn’t enough for both parties to make a deal for the following campaign and finding another gig proved a long process.

Finn was still a free agent until November 2020, when he returned to what was the EBEL and now the ICE league, signing with Bratislava Capitals in Slovakia.

The 26-year-old remains in Slovakia at the time of writing and has seven points in 23 games for the Capitals.

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