The battle to make the opening night roster begins in earnest tonight as some hopefuls will get their first chance to impress and show that they deserve to be in the lineup. For others it will be a rare chance to wear an NHL jersey before they are dispatched to the minors, junior or outright released. And yet for others, it is simply an opportunity to get a skate in against live competition, get some timing down and stay healthy for the upcoming 82 game grind.

The Toronto Maple Leafs pay their first visit to Canadian Tire Centre to face the host Senators in the first preseason game for both clubs. They will meet again on Tuesday night in Toronto, but will both field very different teams.

From the Senators perspective, all eyes will be firmly targeted on a pair of rookies who they hope will make an immediate impact - defenseman Thomas Chabot and forward Colin White. Both players are 2015 first rounders, and both are expected to see NHL action this season. How much depends on them, their readiness and the willingness of the organization to wait on them if they aren't quite ready. Injuries have opened the door for both players (Erik Karlsson, Clarke MacArthur & Derick Brassard) and you can bet both will see action in a majority of the Senators' exhibition games.

The projected 23-man roster includes the likes of Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Zack Smith, Alex Burrows, Dion Phaneuf, Cody Ceci, Johnny Oduya and Craig Anderson who will all have roster spots when the season opens on October 5th.

Joining White and Chabot as hopefuls, if not to start the season but to see NHL action at some point will be Andreas Englund, Francis Perron and Gabriel Gagne, while for youngsters like 2017 fourth rounder Drake Batherson it will simply be an opportunity to skate with NHLers before going back to junior for some seasoning.

White has been skating on a line with Burrows through the first couple days of training camp, while Ryan Dzingel and Chris Vandevelde have patrolled the other side for the most part. Chabot opened up camp on a pairing with Ben Harpur, but skated with Phaneuf on Saturday which could be the unit that I could see Guy Boucher going with to start the season while Erik Karlsson is on the shelf.

The Leafs cut their ranks by 24 players yesterday, but still have 49 in camp, and I haven't seen a travel roster yet, but with a home game tomorrow night I wouldn't anticipate them sending the likes of Auston Matthews on the road. While Phaneuf will play, we could also see a couple of the pieces that Ottawa dealt for the defenseman, as Colin Greening earned a new contract in the off-season and Tobias Lindberg is also looking to make an impression as a potential call-up.

Right now, I think there are only 2 spots inked in for the opening night lineup, and that is Kyle Turris as the first line centre and Nate Thompson as the fourth line centre. Other than that, there will be many incarnations of the lineup and it will be fluid with lots of potential combinations to be seen in the coming 6 games exhibition slate.

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