It’s perhaps just a coincidence, but it seems more often than not in the last couple years that my beloved Maple Leafs always has some sort of great thing happen on a special day for myself.

For example, my daughter was born the same day the Maple Leafs signed Mike Babcock to an eight year deal.

Today is my thirty fifth birthday, not a big deal! I’m more excited for Leafs Rookie Camp to get underway, that’s my present from Leafs Nation the way I see it.

Here is a glimpse of the schedule and roster for Maple Leafs Rookie Camp:

Schedule: (Budweiser Gardens in London, ON)

Friday – Ottawa vs Toronto (7pm)
Saturday – Toronto vs Montreal (7pm)
Sunday (Toronto vs Pittsburgh (4:35pm)

Roster:

Forwards:
Jeremy Bracco, Tony Cameranesi, Martins Dzierkals, Tye Felhaber, Frederik Gauthier, Cason Hohmann, Andreas Johnson, Nikita Korostelev, Tobias Lindberg, Mason Marchment, Mitch Marner, Trevor Moore, J.J. Piccinich, Colin Smith, Dmytro Timashov, Jack Walker, Chase Witala, Tyler Wong

Defence:
Nikolas Brouillard, Travis Dermott, Stephen Desrocher, Justin Holl, Jon Jutzi, Nicolas Mattinen, Keaton Middleton, Andrew Nielsen, Ty Stanton, Rinat Valiev

Goaltending:
Antoine Bibeau, Kasimir Kaskisuo

The Toronto Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe will be running the show. He’s been able to see some of the young prospects grow who were drafted last season when the Shanaplan came into full effect. The Marlies had a phenomenal regular season last year but came up short in the playoffs. Keefe coached them into the third round of the playoffs before they were eliminated, and he has some high expectations for some of his returning youngsters from the Marlies of last year.

With so many quality prospects coming up the pipeline and a number of veteran players who will be at Leafs main camp looking to secure a roster spot, the battle begins today.

These young players must show they are moving forward, improving in all aspects of their game. The body does a lot of changing between 17-20 years of age and you may just see a player or two really break out in terms of size and strength. Especially with the conditioning and food plans the professional athletes follow these days.

Personally, I am extremely excited to see Marner lace them up and work his magic on the ice. I’m hoping to see a slight increase in his overall weight, but more so his core strength continuing to solidifty as he hopes to break into the NHL with the Maple Leafs come October.

As I’ve mentioned before I am really hoping that Mitch Marner makes the Maple Leafs this season. The new Maple Leafs are all about patience with their prospects, but when a prospect is as ripe as Marner is, and the options are limited with either NHL or OHL, let the stallion ride his horse into the sunset, guns a blazing.

Can you believe it’s the “Goat’s” Frederik Gautheir’s fourth rookie camp? Wow, how time flies. The 21 year old centre may get a taste of some NHL action this year, especially if Toronto is to dump some players throughout the season (deadline). Guys like Bozak, Laich, Michalek, Greening and others could be traded which may open up space for a player like Gauthier who is destined to play on either the Leafs fourth or third line center at some point in his career.

On the defensive end I hope to see big strides made by both Nielsen and especially Dermott who I feel is going to be in the NHL by next season. Toronto has some quality defensive prospects, and Carrick who was hotter than the sun after coming to the Leafs/Marlies last year will be digging deep for an opening night roster spot. What an excellent trade that was by Lou Lamoriello, and again, thank you Daniel Winnik!

Of course Marner will be the center of attention for me and I’d imagine many other Leafs fans. Be sure to keep an eye out for Bracco, Johnson, Timashov and Trevor Moore who was signed out of the University of Denver on a tryout.

Keefe is actually quite interested to see what Moore brings to the table (44 points in 40 games in the NCAA).

“Trevor is a player I’m definitely interested in seeing,” Keefe said. “It was exciting to work with him at development camp. Through his time at Denver, he’s earned the opportunity and he can carry it through to Leafs’ camp. He’s been around out training facility all summer.”

Who are you most excited to see?

Things are ramping up in Leafs Nation; remember the World Cup tournament officially begins tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Join the Discussion: » 231 Comments » Post New Comment

» Bust out your monocle and take a gander of the Atlantic

» Atlantic Division Spotlight: Tampa Bay Lightning

» Slicing the Atlantic Division in Half

» Atlantic Spotlight: Toronto Maple Leafs

» Atlantic Spotlight: Red Wings