The Toronto Maple Leafs play the first of eight exhibition games on Monday against the Ottawa Senators in Halifax with a group made up mostly of players who are expected to start in the American Hockey League.
Leafs TV’s
Paul Hendrick reports that the forward group will consist of center Tyler Bozak, 2015 top pick Mitch Marner, veteran tryout candidate Brandon Prust and youngsters Kerby Rychel, Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson.
Jake Gardiner and Matt Hunwick will anchor the blueline, with Frank Corrado, walk-on Raman Hrabarenka, Rinat Valiev, Andrew Nielsen and Andrew Campbell, while the tandem that played in London at the rookie tournament last weekend; Kasimir Kaskisuo and Antoine Bibeau are expected to split the goaltending duties.
There appear to be places on the 23-man roster that are etched in stone. Up the middle, Bozak, Nazem Kadri, rookie Auston Matthews and veteran Brooks Laich are penciled in to start the season, James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Milan Michalek and free agent addition Matt Martin look to be the group on the left side and Marner and William Nylander on the right side.
Barring any surprise performances or trades, the Leafs are likely to keep eight defensemen, since none of the bottom pairing candidates (Corrado, Martin Marincin, Connor Carrick) are waiver exempt. As was apparent last season, getting even a borderline NHL defenseman through waivers to the AHL is nearly impossible.
Candidates with waiver exemption such as Valiev and Viktor Loov will have a hard time making the Leafs unless they are noticeably better
If GM Lou Lamoriello keeps eight D, that would allow the Leafs to keep only 13 forwards. Komarov’s ability to play either side gives head coach Mike Babcock some flexibility, but the group of Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman, Josh Leivo, Colin Greening, Peter Holland, Brendan Leipsic, Brown, Kapanen and Rychel will be fighting for three open spots.
As with the defensemen, waiver exemption may be a consideration when it comes to the forwards.
The ability to move Hyman, Soshnikov, Leipsic, Kapanen, Brown or Rychel up and down from the minors freely and the close proximity of the Marlies allows Toronto to keep them in the AHL and bring them up for short periods when needed.
Holland, Leivo and Greening would have to clear to be sent down to the Marlies, but the Leafs may choose to roll the dice and rely on teams not wanting to claim contracts with significant cap hits (Greening - $2.65 M, Holland $1.3 M).
Leivo’s two-year, $1.25 Million contract would likely not scare off any interested teams if he was sent down, which makes it likely that Toronto would lose the 23-year-old to another club.
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Listen to the latest episode of Off The Post, with Russ Cohen, Anthony Mingioni, myself and special guest Brian Metzer, as we discuss the World Cup of Hockey, Phil Kessel’s tweet and Leafs training camp:
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Listen to my interview with former Leafs Assistant GM Bill Watters, as we discuss the World Cup of Hockey and the opening of training camp:
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