TORONTO (July 10) — It won’t take long next season for Michael Komisarek to encounter his old teammates on the Montreal Canadiens. Or, for fans of the Maple Leafs to see new Habs Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta in action. That’s because an initial draft of the 2009-10 National Hockey League schedule shows the Leafs opening the season at home to the Canadiens on Thursday, October 1st. The final draft could produce changes, but the Leafs/Habs game appears set. Next season begins a bit earlier than usual because of the two-week hiatus in February for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

It appears the Leafs will also embark on their longest road trip of the schedule in October — a five-gamer to Vancouver, Anaheim, Dallas, Washington and Montreal. The club will hit the road after the Christmas break, as it often does, for a swing through Edmonton, Calgary and Pittsburgh, arriving back home after the new year.

Road games will also be played in Central Division cities Chicago, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis, while San Jose, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Detroit are expected to play at the Air Canada Centre, along with the three western-Canadian clubs, whom the Leafs will face home-and-away for the second year in a row.

The Leafs will soon release their entire pre-season schedule. The COCA COLA ZERO “Fans First” game will be played at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, September 16th against Boston. The Leafs will also play Stanley Cup finallists Pittsburgh and Detroit home-and-away in the exhibition sked… at Pittsburgh Sep. 18; home to the Cup champs Sep. 22; at Detroit Sep. 25 and hosting the Red Wings Sep. 26.

The full NHL regular-season schedule is expected to be released sometime next week.

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