The Toronto Maple Leafs will open their season next Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens, who will be without Carey Price for the foreseeable future because the All-Star goaltender has entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. The Leafs also could be without their biggest star, as center Auston Matthews indicated on Thursday that he is hopeful to be ready for the home opener after missing the entire preseason recovering from offseason wrist surgery.
"I think each day has progressed really well and the last couple of weeks I've been able to turn it up a couple (of) notches, handle the puck and just feel more comfortable out there. I think just taking reps out there with the guys is a good sign for me personally.” Matthews said after practicing in Gravenhurst, ON. "Today was good like getting into it with the guys and feeling that pressure and working through it and everything felt pretty solid so I was pretty happy with it."
It was also a day where the Rocket Richard Trophy winner was named to Team USA for the upcoming 2022 Olympics in Beijing, along with Patrick Kane and Seth Jones of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Matthews skated on a line with wingers Nick Ritchie and Mitch Marner and believes that playing in the preseason finale on Saturday against Ottawa might be optimistic, but is hopeful that he will be in the starting lineup against the Habs.
The club skated with what could be their line combos and defensive pairings to start the campaign, without William Nylander there (who did not travel to Gravenhurst due to not being two weeks out from the second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine). John Tavares centered Ilya Mikheyev and Ondrej Kase, David Kampf, Pierre Engvall and Wayne Simmonds made up the checking line and a fourth unit of Michael Bunting, Alex Kerfoot and Jason Spezza.
The blueline pairings were Morgan Rielly and TJ Brodie, Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl and Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren.
*******
It appears that the Leafs are exercising the same strategy regarding a contract extension for defenseman Morgan Rielly that they did with Zach Hyman, waiting until after the season and before becoming an unrestricted free agent next July.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his 32 Thoughts column believes that Toronto will let things play out before making any decision on 27-year-old blueliner, based not only on what it will cost to sign him, but what else they need to do cap-wise if they sign him.
The Leafs have four UFA’s next summer in Rielly, goalie Jack Campbell, center Jason Spezza and winger Ilya Mikheyev. The club will likely bring back Spezza on a veteran minimum deal as long as he is capable of playing, and Mikheyev’s price tag would likely not go up appreciably unless he has a breakout offensive year. Campbell on the other hand could earn a considerable raise from his $1.65 million deal if he repeats what he did in the final two months of last season and the playoffs.
Toronto will have $13.7 million in cap space to work with (including the retained salary of Phil Kessel finally dropping off), but at least $8 million of that would likely be taken up by Rielly’s new contract.
The Leafs are rolling the dice. If Rielly has a career year (as Hyman did in his walk year) or gets close to his 20-goal, 72-point production from three years ago, his price will be too rich for GM Kyle Dubas to match. If he has a good year and gets selected to Team Canada for the Olympics, there could be a significant market for club’s longest serving player.
*******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.*******
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»