The Toronto Maple Leafs continue the process of roster evaluation with a contest across the border in Buffalo against the division rival Sabres at First Niagara Center on Friday night.
The Leafs will not have leading scorer Phil Kessel, James van Riemsdyk, Jake Gardiner or Morgan Rielly in the lineup, but will to have two veterans making their season debuts, as center Tyler Bozak and winger David Clarkson are ready for action after participating in full practices the last few days.
Both players were held out of last weekend’s Blue and White scrimmages after being hampered by lower body injuries prior to the opening of training camp. Bozak will center a line with rookie Josh Leivo and Joffrey Lupul, while Clarkson will play with 2014 top pick William Nylander and Nazem Kadri. The other lines are Leo Komarov, Peter Holland and Brandon Kozun and Daniel Winnik, Sam Carrick and Troy Bodie.
Indications of the defensive pairings from the morning skate in Toronto are: Dion Phaneuf - Petter Granberg, Henrik Tallinder - Korbinian Holzer and Stuart Percy – Roman Polak, with James Reimer and rookie Antoine Bibeau splitting the goaltending duties.
The club demoted David Broll, Connor Brown, Jamie Devane, Greg McKegg, Carson McMillan, Brad Ross, Brady Vail, Eric Knodel, Andrew MacWilliam, Brendan Mikkelson, Tom Nilsson, Christopher Gibson and Cal Heeter to the Toronto Marlies on Thursday to get down to 41 players.
With four exhibition games left, the battle to make the opening night roster and to earn a more prominent position in the starting lineup is heating up.
The battle for second line winger was slightly delayed with the injury to Clarkson, but head coach Randy Carlyle is giving the Mimico, ON native an opportunity to play on a scoring line in his debut in Buffalo. William Nylander has been given top line minutes and opportunity, in which he has shown his high-end skill set, but he has also shown some defensive inadequacies and lack of strength that likely merit him spending another year in Sweden.
Matt Frattin played some at right wing on the second line, has had scoring chances and has worked well with Kadri in the past, but for the second time this preseason, the Leafs are playing Lupul on the right side, which makes one think that this is more than just an experiment. It may be a hint that the skill set of left winger David Booth may be a better fit with Kadri and Lupul than Clarkson’s strong, down low presence.
At center, veteran Petri Kontiola has struggled to keep up with the pace of the NHL after spending the last five years in the KHL. Kontiola was expected to challenge for an offensive role in Carlyle’s three scoring line concept, but has not appeared to fit well playing between Nylander and Kessel in scrimmages and centering van Riemsdyk and Kessel against Ottawa on Wednesday.
According to TSN’s Jonas Siegel, the Finnish import finished without a shot on goal in about 13 minutes on Wednesday.
Peter Holland and Mike Santorelli have a leg up on locking down a spot up the middle. Both have offensive attributes(Holland has more size and skill, Santorelli more speed and tenacity), but neither have done anything awe-inspiring to lock down a spot. Kontiola may also be a victim of his contract status, which allows him to be sent down to the AHL without clearing waivers.
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