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Leafs tweak camp roster, not feeling any added pressure

July 13, 2020, 8:26 AM ET [1022 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs will embark on the uncertain world of hockey in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the club opens their summer training camp at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, ON on Monday.

The Leafs revealed their roster of 34 players on the weekend, but GM Kyle Dubas sees that group of 19 forwards, 11 defensemen and 4 goalies being reduced slightly after a nearly two-week camp before entering the bubble in preparation for their matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Forward Nic Petan was initially not included on the roster, but was cleared by the club’s medical staff and added (taking the place of Marlies defenseman Mac Hollowell), while Auston Matthews was deemed “fit to play” and will skate on Monday.

"I think we'll probably end up taking into the bubble what I would project as being 15 or 16 forwards, nine or 10 defensemen and three or four goalies.” Dubas said during a conference call on Sunday. So maybe (we’ll be) at 28 or 29 players, and then we'll have the six person coaching staff."

Injured winger Andreas Johnsson is still rehabbing after knee surgery in March and is not expected to be available until after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in September, but the Leafs will have winger Ilya Mikheyev back from his wrist laceration and have added prospect Nick Robertson as a possible wildcard.

"With Ilya, we know what we're getting, because we've seen him play in the NHL and he adjusted very well to coming over from Omsk,” Dubas said. "Nick's case (is) a little bit more of an unknown. He's 18 years old, he had an excellent season with Peterborough, he's going to be at training camp. He's been here through Phase 2 for the whole thing. We're gonna give him every shot like we are with all the others that ended the season not on our current roster and we'll see we'll see where that's at, and if he can force his way into the mix and onto the roster, that'd be great."



With the completion of the new CBA last week, the realities of the NHL landscape are not favorable to the Leafs, who have less than $5 Million in available cap space with the salary cap staying flat at $81.5 Million next season. Some believe that this season may be Toronto’s best opportunity to succeed in the postseason before being forced to make painful roster decisions, but Dubas does not agree with that assessment.

"I know that seems to be the narrative about the team and there's a lot of talk about it. If we were facing a situation where some of our core players were unrestricted or they or they had a large amount of leverage as some of our past players have had, I would maybe feel differently and say that we're going to have to make a major move and delete from our core, but when everybody signed going into this offseason, I think we're going to have some space to take care of our restricted free agents that we have and potentially look at some of our own UFA's.” Dubas said. “I don't feel that this season there should be any added pressure. I think the players have an expectation and we have an expectation that we're going to be competitive and that we're trying to contend to win the Stanley Cup. I don't look at the situation and say 'because the cap is going to be flat, this is our only chance to do so.' "

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