The Toronto Maple Leafs released their 2016-17 regular season schedule on Tuesday and for the first time in nine seasons, the Blue and White will not open the 82-game campaign against the Montreal Canadiens.
The centennial season opener will be at the Canadian Tire Center in Kanata, ON against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, October 12 and the Leafs home opener at Air Canada Center will be on Saturday, October 15 against the Boston Bruins.
Notable games on the schedule include presumptive first overall pick Auston Matthew’s return to his home state of Arizona on Friday, December 23, the NHL Centennial Classic against the Detroit Red Wings at BMO Field on January 1 and the Leafs first outing in Tampa on Thursday, December 29.
Toronto will open the annual rookie tournament at Budweiser Gardens in London, ON from September 16-18, one week later than normal since NHL clubs will be delaying the opening of training camps due to the World Cup of Hockey.
The Leafs will hold the early part of training camp in Nova Scotia for the second year in a row and will open their exhibiton schedule against the Ottawa Senators in Halifax on Monday, September 26. The two provincial rivals will also play a second pre-season game on Tuesday, October 4 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The complete 2016 preseason schedule:
Mon.Sep 26.............. 6pm..........Ottawa......Scotiabank Centre.....Halifax, NS Thu. Sep 29..............7pm..........Buffalo.......Meridian Centre.........St. Catharines, ON Fri. Sep 30...............7pm..........at Buffalo...First Niagara Centre...Buffalo, NY Sun.Oct 2.................7pm ........Montreal.....Air Canada Centre.....Toronto, ON Tue. Oct 4.................930pm at Ottawa....SaskTel Centre..........Saskatoon, SK Thu. Oct 6.................730pm.... at Montreal..Bell Centre...............Montreal, QC Fri. Oct 7.................TBD.........Detroit........FirstOntario Centre....Hamilton, ON Sat. Oct 8.................7pm........at Detroit.... Joe Louis Arena.........Detroit, MI
The complete 2016 regular season schedule:
WED, 12 OCT 2016....at SENATORS.......7:00 PM SAT, 15 OCT 2016....BRUINS...............7:00 PM WED, 19 OCT 2016....at JETS................8:00 PM THU, 20 OCT 2016.....at WILD...............8:00 PM SAT, 22 OCT 2016......at BLACKHAWKS..7:00 PM TUE, 25 OCT 2016.....LIGHTNING..........7:30 PM THU, 27 OCT 2016.....PANTHERS...........7:30 PM SAT, 29 OCT 2016.....at CANADIENS......7:00 PM SUN, 30 OCT 2016....at ISLANDERS.......6:00 PM
TUE, 1 NOV 2016......OILERS.................7:30 PM THU, 3 NOV 2016......at SABRES............7:00 PM SAT, 5 NOV 2016......CANUCKS..............7:00 PM TUE, 8 NOV 2016......KINGS..................7:30 PM FRI, 11 NOV 2016.....FLYERS.................7:00 PM SAT,12 NOV 2016.....at PENGUINS.........7:00 PM TUE,15 NOV 2016.....PREDATORS...........7:30 PM THU,17 NOV 2016.....PANTHERS............7:30 PM SAT,19 NOV 2016.....at CANADIENS.......7:00 PM TUE, 22 NOV 2016....HURRICANES.........7:00 PM WED,23 NOV 2016....at DEVILS.............7:00 PM SAT, 26 NOV 2016.....CAPITALS.............7:00 PM TUE, 29 NOV 2016....at OILERS..............9:00 PM WED,30 NOV 2016....at FLAMES.............8:30 PM
SAT, 3 DEC 2016......at CANUCKS..........7:00 PM WED, 7 DEC 2016.....WILD....................7:30 PM SAT, 10 DEC 2016....at BRUINS.............7:00 PM SUN, 11 DEC 2016....AVALANCHE..........7:00 PM TUE, 13 DEC 2016.....SHARKS...............7:30 PM THU, 15 DEC 2016.....COYOTES.............7:30 PM SAT, 17 DEC 2016.....PENGUINS............7:00 PM MON, 19 DEC 2016....DUCKS.................7:30 PM THU, 22 DEC 2016......at AVALANCHE.....9:00 PM FRI, 23 DEC 2016.......at COYOTES.........9:00 PM WED, 28 DEC 2016.....at PANTHERS........7:00 PM THU, 29 DEC 2016......at LIGHTNING.......7:30 PM
SUN, 1 JAN 2017........RED WINGS..........3:00 PM TUE, 3 JAN 2017.........at CAPITALS.........7:00 PM FRI, 6 JAN 2017..........at DEVILS............7:30 PM SAT, 7 JAN 2017.........CANADIENS.........7:00 PM FRI, 13 JAN 2017........at RANGERS.........7:00 PM SAT, 14 JAN 2017.......at SENATORS.......7:00 PM TUE, 17 JAN 2017.......SABRES...............7:30 PM THU, 19 JAN 2017.......RANGERS............7:30 PM SAT, 21 JAN 2017.......SENATORS...........7:00 PM MON, 23 JAN 2017......FLAMES...............7:30 PM WED, 25 JAN 2017......at RED WINGS......7:00 PM THU, 26 JAN 2017.......at FLYERS............7:00 PM TUE, 31 JAN 2017.......at STARS..............8:30 PM
THU, 2 FEB 2017.........at BLUES.............8:00 PM SAT, 4 FEB 2017.........at BRUINS............7:00 PM MON, 6 FEB 2017........at ISLANDERS......7:00 PM TUE, 7 FEB 2017.........STARS.................7:30 PM THU, 9 FEB 2017.........BLUES.................7:30 PM SAT, 11 FEB 2017.......SABRES...............7:00 PM TUE, 14 FEB 2017.......ISLANDERS..........7:30 PM WED, 15 FEB 2017......at BLUE JACKETS..7:00 PM SAT, 18 FEB 2017.......SENATORS...........7:00 PM SUN, 19 FEB 2017.......at HURRICANES....7:30 PM TUE, 21 FEB 2017.......JETS....................7:30 PM THU, 23 FEB 2017.......RANGERS.............7:30 PM SAT, 25 FEB 2017.......CANADIENS..........7:00 PM TUE, 28 FEB 2017.......at SHARKS...........10:30 PM
THU, 2 MAR 2017........at KINGS.............10:30 PM FRI, 3 MAR 2017.........at DUCKS............10:00 PM TUE, 7 MAR 2017........RED WINGS..........7:30 PM THU, 9 MAR 2017........FLYERS................7:30 PM SAT, 11 MAR 2017......at HURRICANES.....7:00 PM TUE, 14 MAR 2017......at PANTHERS........7:30 PM THU, 16 MAR 2017......at LIGHTNING.......7:30 PM SAT, 18 MAR 2017......BLACKHAWKS.......7:00 PM MON, 20 MAR 2017.....BRUINS................7:30 PM WED, 22 MAR 2017.....at BLUE JACKETS...7:00 PM THU, 23 MAR 2017......DEVILS................7:30 PM SAT, 25 MAR 2017......at SABRES............7:00 PM TUE, 28 MAR 2017......PANTHERS............7:30 PM THU, 30 MAR 2017......at PREDATORS......8:00 PM
SAT, 1 APR 2017.........at RED WINGS......7:00 PM MON, 3 APR 2017........at SABRES............7:00 PM TUE, 4 APR 2017.........CAPITALS.............7:30 PM THU, 6 APR 2017.........LIGHTNING..........7:30 PM SAT, 8 APR 2017.........PENGUINS............7:00 PM SUN, 9 APR 2017........BLUE JACKETS.......6:00 PM
*******
Maple Leafs 2015 second round pick Jeremy Bracco was one of 42 American prospects selected for Team USA’s summer camp for the 2017 IIHF World Junior Tournament in Montreal and Toronto this December. The 19-year-old forward left Boston College University for the Kitchener Rangers last fall and scored 21 goals and 43 assists in 49 games and 14 points in the playoffs for the Ontario Hockey League club last season.
The Freeport, NY native was a surprising omission for Team USA’s camp last summer after scoring an impressive 13 points at the Under-18’s, which was likely due to USA Hockey selecting role players to suit the style of former Leaf coach Ron Wilson.
*******
Listen to myself and CTV's Norman James on "The Convo", as we discuss to the Frederik Andersen deal and the latest news leading up to the NHL Draft:
....and when you are done with that, listen to myself and the guys from the Blue and White Tonight podcast discussing......you guessed it....the Leafs:
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******
Note : Continue to check back to my column on Hockeybuzz throughout the day for the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.