The Toronto Maple Leafs had a busy day on Sunday between the start of training camp, finally announcing the team's official camp roster and media availability for several players, GM Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe. With the excitement hitting a fever pitch, I don't even know where to begin.. I suppose I'll just dive in and see where it takes me.
For the most part, the Leafs' training camp roster looks a lot like what many thought that it might, with a few key omissions, primarily due to those players being on loan to various teams in European leagues. A player such as Yegor Korshkov, for example, who was expected to challenge for one of the remaining unclaimed forward spots this season will instead remain in the KHL, where he is playing big, meaningful minutes with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, where his development can continue and his confidence can remain high.
Two invites that I had originally expected that were not issued were to young netminders Joseph Woll and Ian Scott, who could have used the opportunity to absorb what they could from the veteran goaltenders in attendance. However, when I sat back and thought about it, the logistics behind carrying six goalies in camp and getting each of them enough individual attention to make their camp experience valuable enough does seem like a long shot. The Leafs' priority at this point seems to be on getting the best out of Frederik Andersen in a contract year and helping backups Jack Campbell and Aaron Dell enough reps to excel in their roles this season. As we already know, Hutchinson is the most-likely candidate to be waived and sent down to the AHL Toronto Marlies.
Though the Buds did not bring anyone in from outside on a PTO, they did include a few AHL contract players on their training camp roster in 6'6" Justin Brazeau, 6'3" Tyler Gaudet and 6'3" Scott Sabourin - the latter being somewhat famous in Toronto for an exchange with superstar sniper Auston Matthews where Matthews took a peak at the back of Sabourin's sweater to try to identify who was getting in his face. Perhaps you'll remember it..
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The big news of the day came during media availability when Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe laid out his plans for how he will structure his lines. Keefe will reunite Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on the team's top line, with popular offseason acquisition and sure-fire first ballot Hall-of-Famer "Jumbo" Joe Thornton, shifting Nylander back down to Tavares' wing along with Jimmy Vesey. Alex Kerfoot will anchor a line with Ilya Mikheyev and Zach Hyman, in what should be one of the absolute best third lines in the entire league, at least on paper.
The fourth line is where the real competition is. With veteran forwards Wayne Simmonds and Jason Spezza almost certain to claim two of the last three spots, that leaves rookie sensation Nick Robertson, KHL import Alexander Barabanov, 6'5" Pierre Engvall, and newcomers Joey Anderson and Travis Boyd to fight it out for that last spot. That should be quite the competition, given the reputations of the five Leafs fighting for the spot. They're essentially just a group of "no-quit" workhorses. I would expect that the spot will go to either Barabanov or Robertson, however, it is far from a sure thing.
Though many had expected Robertson to be a lock for a spot out of camp after being held back from the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship tournament, it looks like the Leafs could elect to use him on their "taxi squad" to begin the season. As CHL players are reportedly eligible to be assigned to taxi squads, we may see a larger number of teens in the NHL this season as opposed to past seasons.
We are officially 10 days out from the beginning of the 2020-21 season, and I think I can speak on behalf of every hockey fan when I say that I absolutely cannot wait for the puck to drop!
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