Be sure to like HockeyBuzz on facebook! For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter The Toronto Maple Leafs will face a number of challenges this season, some unforeseen and others expected. Based on the rules for the NHL’s Return to Play released this weekend, the Leafs 56-game schedule will be exclusively within the seven-team All-Canadian North Division, likely playing nine times against four Western teams and 10 against Ottawa and Montreal. Going into the season, GM Kyle Dubas expected that after the signing of free agents Wayne Simmonds, Jimmy Vesey, Zach Bogosian, TJ Brodie and Joe Thornton, and the re-signings of Jason Spezza, Travis Dermott, and Ilya Mikheyev that the club would be right up against the $81.5 million salary cap. That will still be the case when the season begins on January 13, but navigating the cap may be helped by the implementation of a four-to-six man taxi squad. “Whether we have to go with 20 men on the roster to start, or whether on off days and with the team being so close. (Sending) guys down to play games for the Marlies rather than sitting out for us, if they have been through waivers or they are waiver exempt in order to keep guys fresh and active and accrue some savings that way, will be key.… Dubas said in October. “At this time, in working with Brandon Pridham on it daily, it doesn’t appear that we will need to move anybody else out.…
Taxi Squad details for the 2020-21 #NHL season:https://t.co/XpdrFRgPbt pic.twitter.com/5qNa7lA2ZL
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 20, 2020