Thursday's contest between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres will not be shown as a instant classic on Leafs TV, as Garret Sparks, Kasimir Kaskisuo and Anders Nilsson were perfect through regulation and overtime and veteran Matt Moulson scored the only goal in a 1-0 Sabres shootout victory at the Meridian Center in St. Catharines, ON.
The two clubs face each other in the second of back-to-back games at Key Bank Center in Buffalo, but the building where Auston Matthews was selected first overall three months ago will not be where the 19-year-old rookie center will make his NHL exhibition debut.
With the exception of former Sabre Jhonas Enroth(who is expected to play part of the game), none of the eight players who participated in the World Cup of Hockey and head coach Mike Babcock will be on the bench in Buffalo.
Assistant coach
Jim Hiller indicated Friday morning that Matthews, Morgan Rielly, Milan Michalek, Roman Polak, Leo Komarov, James van Riemsdyk and Nikita Zaitsev) are all being allowed extra rest and will see action in the near future, possibly on Sunday when the Leafs play at Air Canada Center for the first time against the Montreal Canadiens.
Babcock wasted no time getting back into Leafs mode, showing up mere hours after Canada’s tournament-clinching 2-1 victory over Europe at the club’s practice facility in Etobicoke, ON. Hiller will remain behind the bench against Buffalo, but Babcock will travel with the club to observe them first-hand.
Goaltender Frederik Andersen has begun to practice with the club and is recovering from an upper body injury suffered during an Olympic qualifier earlier this month, but there is no indication how long the presumptive starter will be unavailable.
"It’s feeling pretty good.” Andersen told TSN’s
Mark Masters. “I’m taking more and more shots, and getting that game feel back."
It is tough to determine which of the Atlantic Division rivals will be more successful in their rebuilding plans, since a side-by-side comparison shows that they are following the same blueprint.
Buffalo has promising franchise cornerstones in Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel and Rasmus Ristolainen(currently an unsigned restricted free agent), while Toronto’s Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander are all entering their rookie campaigns.
The Sabres are ahead on the road back to the playoffs, as Eichel and Reinhart have a year under their belts and winger Kyle Okposo added via free agency this summer to provide scoring depth, but need everything else to fall into place.
Head coach Dan Bylsma needs Ristolainen patrolling the blueline, goalie Robin Lehner to stay healthy, another solid year from Ryan O’Reilly and contributions from Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian to make a bid for a postseason berth.
The Leafs did not add an impact player in free agency like Okposo, opting instead to bring back veteran Roman Polak and winger Matt Martin to provide some depth and deterrence.
Toronto does not expect to contend for a playoff spot and will spend most of this season focusing on the development of Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Rielly, but they may have a speed advantage on Buffalo with a less complicated situation on the salary cap.
Ristolainen is looking for a deal in the neighborhood of Aaron Ekblad’s eight-year, $60 Million deal, Eichel and Reinhart will be eligible for extensions off their entry-level contracts next July and GM Tim Murray has Kane ($5.25M), Moulson ($5M), Tyler Ennis ($4.6M), Bogosian ($5.1M) and Josh Gorges ($3.9M) with two or more years left on their deals.
GM Lou Lamoriello was able to get Rielly signed to a six-year, $30 Million deal after the season and has been adept at moving out the long-term, big money contracts of Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, David Clarkson and Joffrey Lupul, which clears the way for Toronto to be a player on the trade market or free agency in the near future.
The two QEW rivals could conceivably be battling with Tampa Bay and Florida at the top of the Atlantic within two-to-three seasons and the difference between them could be which management team has done a better job managing the salary cap and at player development.
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