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Leafs roster decisions will go down to the wire

September 25, 2018, 7:45 PM ET [190 Comments]
Mike Augello
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With three games left on the exhibition schedule, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock is continuing to evaluate the battles for spots on the 23-man roster and is apparently going to wait until the last possible moment to make his choices.

The 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday provided little in the positive column and plenty of negatives for a number of players on the bubble, such as Andreas Borgman, who was on the ice for four Habs goals, Justin Holl whose glaring giveaway resulted in Montreal’s opening tally and goalie Garret Sparks, who allowed five goals on 22 shots in the first two periods.

“It was a tough night to evaluate players. No one got into a better spot than they started (and) I don’t think that helps the guys in any way.” Babcock said. “I think everything comes into play when you’re making decisions on your players. Time is on our side, we don’t have to make one decision right now, so we’re not going to one. We’re just going to keep watching and watching.”

Babcock indicated at the club’s practice facility in Etobicoke, ON on Tuesday that he plans on starting Frederik Andersen in two of the last three games (which likely means in Montreal on Wednesday and one of the two weekend games against Detroit), with Curtis McElhinney getting the other start, but continues to be non-committal about which way he is leaning in the battle for the backup goaltender.



On the surface, the performance in games would seem to favor McElhinney to backup Andersen. In fact, of the four goaltenders who have recently seen game action, Pickard has played well in limited action, while Sparks allowed eight goals on 34 shots before stopping all 14 shots in the third period against the Habs.

Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported that the Leafs could use some sleight of hand allowable by the CBA to keep McElhinney as the backup playing games after clearing waivers, because he can go up and down from the American Hockey League freely and play up to nine NHL games, while keeping Sparks on the 23-man roster for fear of him being claimed on waivers.

The only problem is that McElhinney may not clear waivers prior to the regular season. The 35-year-old had great numbers last season, is an unrestricted free agent after this year and is an excellent option for teams looking for a dependable veteran as a #2.

There are three teams in Tampa Bay (with Louis Domingue as the backup to Andrei Vasilevskiy), Winnipeg (with the inexperienced Laurent Brossoit) and Philadelphia (with Alex Lyon and Michal Neuvirth injured) that might put in a claim and that would leave Babcock with a backup that he has less confidence in, as was the case at the beginning of the 2016-17 season with Jhonas Enroth.


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