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The Toronto Maple Leafs got down to 23 players on Monday, placing forwards Kenny Agostino, Nic Petan and Garrett Wilson, and defenseman Kevin Gravel on waivers, who all cleared on Tuesday and were assigned to the Toronto Marlies. That group joins Pontus Aberg, Tyler Gaudet, Ben Harpur and Jordan Schmaltz on the stacked Marlies roster, but it does not mean that these players will not be utilized the big club this season.
GM Kyle Dubas will likely downsize his roster even further after the club places Nathan Horton, David Clarkson, Zach Hyman and defenseman Travis Dermott on long-term injured reserve, because the presence of Timothy Liljegren, Justin Holl and Nick Shoreβs salaries were needed to maximize the amount of cap space cleared by LTIR.
The Leafs are expected to take full advantage of the ability to recall players while avoiding waiver consequences. According to Rule 13.2(b) of the collective bargaining agreement, a player does not need to pass through waivers if the player has not been on the NHL active roster for a cumulative 30 days since last clearing waivers, and has not played in 10 or more NHL games.
Toronto could essentially call up Petan, Agostino, Shore or Aberg to play a game and then send them down the following day and spread the nine games limit over a longer period of time. The same could be implemented on defense with Harpur, Schmaltz and Gravel, if Martin Marincin struggles or if Rasmus Sandin is not ready for the long haul of the NHL season.
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The line combinations and defensive pairings appear to be set for the season opener against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.
At practice in Etobicoke, ON on Tuesday, the forward lines remaining Kasperi Kapanen-John Tavares-Mitch Marner, Andreas Johnsson-Auston Matthews-William Nylander, Ilya Mikheyev-Alex Kerfoot-Trevor Moore, with a fourth line of Dmytro Timashov-Jason Spezza-Frederik Gauthier.
On defense, Morgan Rielly was paired with Cody Ceci, Jake Muzzin was partnered with Tyson Barrie, Sandin skated with Marincin, and Liljegren played on the left side with Holl.
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β The Leafs Convo (@TheLeafsConvo) September 29, 2019
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