The Toronto Maple Leafs completed their exhibition schedule with a 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday, finishing with a 2-4-2 record and more of an idea of what will constitute the club’s 23-man roster when the regular season begins in Kanata, ON on Wednesday.
After demoting 19 players to the AHL Toronto Marlies on Saturday to get down to 29 players, the club announced that defenseman Andrew Campbell, forwards Byron Froese, Colin Greening and Brooks Laich have been placed on waivers.
Campbell, 28, played six games for the Leafs last season but his primary role was being a steadying veteran influence as team captain of the Marlies.
The 25-year-old Froese made his NHL debut after spending parts of five seasons in the ECHL and AHL and scored two goals and three assists in 56 games for Toronto last season, but was a long shot to make the club with a number of young forwards pushing for roster spots.
The same goes for Greening, who spent most of the last season playing for the Senators AHL affiliate in Binghamton. The 30-year-old played with energy after being acquired in the Dion Phaneuf deal, scoring seven goals in 30 games, but was not a noticeable presence during training camp.
Laich appeared to be a fourth line option at center or wing, but the 33-year-old being placed on waivers does not mean that he will not be on the Leafs roster on Wednesday.
Demoting Greening and Laich would save Toronto $1,9 Million of their 2016-17 salary (totaling $7.15 Million) but it also allows the Leafs to get closer to the 23-man roster limit without the risk of losing a player to a waiver claim.
It is highly improbable that Greening ($2.65 Million) or Laich($4.5 Million) would get claimed, thus holding back players who might be at risk (Josh Leivo, Frank Corrado, etc) until most of the league have made their roster choices.
Toronto still has to make two more moves to make and with the club down to two goalies and eight defensemen, the remaining moves will almost certainly come up front.
Leafs current training camp roster (25 players)
Goalie(2) Andersen, Frederik Enroth, Jhonas
Defense(8) Carrick, Connor Corrado, Frank Gardiner, Jake Hunwick, Matt Marincin, Martin Polak, Roman Rielly, Morgan Zaitsev, Nikita
Forwards(15) Bozak, Tyler Brown, Connor Holland, Peter Hyman, Zach Kadri, Nazem Komarov, Leo Leivo, Josh Marner, Mitch Martin, Matt Matthews, Auston Michalek, Milan Nylander, William Prust, Brandon (Tryout) Soshnikov, Nikita (Inj) van Riemsdyk, James
Winger Nikita Soshnikov did not play in any of the exhibition games due to a lower body injury and is expected to start the season in the AHL. Connor Brown is still waiver exempt and would appear to be better suited to a top 9 role in the NHL instead of playing on the fourth line, which could mean playing a top-six role with the Marlies will be more beneficial to his long-term future.
Josh Leivo played only once and was held out due to an unspecified injury, which would make the case for him earning a spot questionable. His lack of usage and waiting until just before the season could increase the odds of the AHL All-Star getting through waivers.
Many of the players in training camps on professional tryouts throughout the league have been released by now, which makes it conspicuous that Brandon Prust is still on the Toronto roster. The 30-year-old would fit head coach Mike Babcock’s plan of having some size in the lineup to provide pushback and deterrence against teams taking liberties with Leafs rookies.
Brandon Prust teaching Andrew Nielsen (and Mitch Marner) some things about the art of fighting #Leafs pic.twitter.com/eI8HbWmqhl
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) October 7, 2016
Prust would make more sense as a 13th forward playing when needed instead of sitting a younger player who could benefit more from playing consistently in the AHL.
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