Training Camp – Day #17, Last Chance For Players On Bubble; Leafs vs Wings (maple leafs)

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Training Camp – Day #17, Last Chance For Players On Bubble; Leafs vs Wings

By Mike Augello

Oct 7, 2022 • 3:04 pm

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The Toronto Maple Leafs enter the final weekend of their exhibition schedule with a home and home against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesar’s Arena and based on the lineup the Blue and White are dressing, it appears that head coach Sheldon Keefe is looking players to make one final case for making the roster.

With the exception of Rasmus Sandin (seeing his first live action since signing his two-year deal last weekend), the roster is comprised mostly of waiver-exempt players (Nick Abruzzese, Semyon Der-Argushintsev, Max Ellis, Pontus Holmberg, Bobby McMann, Alex Steeves, Mikko Kokkonen, Filip Kral, William Villeneuve, and Erik Kallgren) bound for AHL training camp or veterans making the club or being placed on waivers when the final cutdown occurs on Sunday.

Winger Nick Robertson will be making his final case to make the NHL roster, but his fate looks to be tied less to his impressive performance in the last couple weeks and more to whether John Tavares and/or Pierre Engvall are healthy enough to play in the season opener against Montreal on Wednesday or soon after.

Abruzzese, Holmberg, Steeves, and Kral have had impressive moments in camp and may have improved their chances of getting called up at some point during the season, but the more immediate situation for GM Kyle Dubas is how many players can he keep on the roster with the club currently over the $82.5 million cap.

It is for certain that defenseman Timothy Liljegren will be placed on LTIR on Monday to bury his $1.4 million salary until he is recovered from hernia surgery next month, but Engvall(ankle) and Tavares (oblique) skating this week makes the possibility of them being placed in long-term injured reserve slim.

On Friday, defenseman Justin Holl was absent from both practice groups due to food poisoning. There has been some speculation regarding Holl's future since the summer, especially after Liljegren and Sandin signed. With Holl being the only right-hander on the blueline to start the season, any move will likely have to wait until Liljegren’s return, but with the Leafs cap situation so tenuous, it's only a matter of time.

Dubas is likely to wait until the last minute before signing forward Zach Aston-Reese to an NHL deal because of the cap, and while vets Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford could slip through waivers, younger forward on contracts less than $1 million (Joey Anderson, Adam Gaudette or Denis Malgin) are prime candidates to be plucked by another NHL team.

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