UPDATE: Per Andy Strickland, the Leafs have invited former first round pick Brad Boyes to training camp.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have potentially put up another hurdle to the chances of any youngsters playing in the NHL this season, as the club signed journeyman winger Curtis Glencross to a tryout contract on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old winger spent seven seasons with the Calgary Flames before being traded to Washington at the trade deadline and has scored in double figures every year since 2008, but was unable to find a NHL contract over the summer. Toronto is also giving former 30-goal scorer Devin Setoguchi a tryout after a bad season that saw him placed on waivers and demoted to the American Hockey League last November.
The tryout invitees have no spots guaranteed and will have to impress head coach Mike Babcock during training camp to earn a spot on the 23-man roster, but the Maple Leafs offer a better opportunity for free agents without a contract to make the NHL, as the organization plans on keeping their prospects in the AHL and allow them to develop properly.
“Tie go to the veteran, kids got to earn their way and no jobs are given here for free. The other thing is ‘can you help us’....not ‘can you get in the lineup’…..can you help us." Babcock said regarding prospects making the team. “The way the CBA works today is you have to pay these guys. If you play a kid when he isn’t ready to help the team, that’s one year off his contract.…
Glencross has primarily played left wing, where Toronto is relatively strong with James van Riemsdyk, Joffrey Lupul, Leo Komarov, Daniel Winnik and Nick Spaling, but right wing is weaker with P-A Parenteau, Richard Panik, Matt Frattin, Setoguchi and Taylor Beck. The addition of Glencross gives the Leafs the flexibility to move Lupul or Komarov to the strengthen the right side or enough depth to made a trade before the season starts.
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News and Notes
The Maple Leafs have made tweaked the roster for this weekend’s rookie tournament. Paul Hendrick of Leafs TV reports that forward Scott Eansor and Nikolai Skladnichenko have been added to the roster and that winger Zach Hyman has been deleted.
The 19-year-old Eansor is a diminutive center who scored 37 points playing behind Islanders first rounder Mathew Barzal with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, while the 21-year-old Skladnichenko played three seasons in the KHL with Novokuznetsk Metallurg and was signed to an AHL contract in late July.
Hyman led the University of Michigan with 54 points in his senior year and at 23 would have been among the oldest players to participate in the tournament.
Ex-Files
Cody Franson has finally found a home, as the ex-Toronto blueliner has signed a two-year, $6.65 Million deal with the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. The 28-year-old blueliner did not get a multi-year, big dollar deal that many thought he was going to get in a weak defensive free agent market this summer.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last February that Toronto offered a multi-year extension to Franson for over $4 Million per season before dealing him to Nashville, but that the defenseman balked because the offer was well below what he expected to get on the open market.
The deal with Buffalo is for slightly more than Franson’s $3.3 Million salary in 2015 and does not contain any no-trade or no-move provisions.
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Former Leaf David Booth is returning to the team where he enjoyed his greatest success, as the winger has been given a tryout by the Florida Panthers. The 30-year-old had seven goals and six assists in 59 games with Toronto last season after being signed as a free agent.
Booth was drafted 53rd overall by the Panthers in 2004 and had 87 goals in 307 games with Florida before being traded to Vancouver in 2011.
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