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The Toronto Maple Leafs extended a PTO to former Philadelphia goaltender Michal Neuvirth last month to battle with Michael Hutchinson for the club’s backup goaltender position and on Friday have signed another former Flyer in forward Matt Read to a professional tryout contract.
.@SportChek Player Alert: The @MapleLeafs have signed forward Matt Read to a professional tryout (PTO) contract. pic.twitter.com/FBqPI0L631
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) August 2, 2019
The 33-year-old Ilderton, ON native played seven seasons in Philadelphia (the last three with current Leafs assistant Dave Hakstol) before signing a one-year, two-way deal with Minnesota last season.
Read played 12 games for the Wild and spent most of last season with Iowa in the American Hockey League, and with the Leafs currently at 48 contracts and one being reserved for Mitch Marner, it is likely that the PTO was extended as a favor to give a veteran a chance to get some work at an NHL camp.
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The Leafs made a number of changes this summer, including an upgrade of their blueline with the additions of Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci, re-signing forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson, acquiring centers Alex Kerfoot and Jason Spezza and potentially upgrading their backup goaltending with Michal Neuvirth.
Even though the Mitch Marner saga is not over, the Leafs are expected to be improved and that is reflected in the projections for the 2019-20 regular season.
BetOnline released their projections for next season and Toronto is among four teams whose over/under number is over 100 points. Unfortunately for the Leafs, two of the other clubs are Atlantic Division rivals Tampa Bay and Boston.
The Lightning, who won the President’s Trophy with 128 points last season, have an over/under of 108.5. Toronto (who finished with exactly 100 points) is ranked second at 101.5 points, while the Eastern Conference champion Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights are tied with 100.5.
The projection for the rest of the Atlantic Division has the Florida Panthers (who finished with 86 points last season) fourth with an over/under of 96.5, due mostly to the addition of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and the hiring of Joel Quenneville.
Montreal, who were in playoff contention until the final weekend of last season and ended up with 96 points, with a projected over/under of 88.5, Buffalo at 83.5, Detroit at 75.5 and Ottawa at 68.5.
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We have a new podcast out now. @IamNormanJames @MikeInBuffalo https://t.co/L7XV0syoLa
— The Leafs Convo (@TheLeafsConvo) July 23, 2019
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