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Development camp and defensive dealings having impact on Leafs options

June 24, 2019, 11:38 PM ET [295 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Monday that 36 players will take part in their 2019 Development Camp, with a pair of on-ice sessions for four days starting Tuesday and the annual Blue and White scrimmage on Saturday morning.

Five of Toronto's six selections at the 2019 NHL Draft (Second-rounder Nick Robertson, third-round pick Mikko Kokkonen, fourth rounder Nick Abruzzese, fifth rounder Michael Koster and seventh-rounder Kalle Loponen) will attend the camp, with fourth round pick Mikhail Abramov the only one not attending.




The group of 18 forwards, 14 defensemen, and 4 goaltenders includes 14 Leafs draft picks and will be put through their paces by new Leafs assistant coach Paul McFarland and Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe.

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Over the last week, the league's defensive dominoes have been falling. Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson signed an eight-year extension in San Jose, Winnipeg dealt Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers and on Monday, the Carolina Hurricanes sent veteran blueliner Calvin de Haan to Chicago in a four-player deal.

The 28-year-old defenseman was through one year of a four-year, $18 Million contract with the Canes and was someone that the Leafs were interested in signing last July as an unrestricted free agent. The deal was essentially a salary dump (which ruled out Toronro in their current state), because Carolina may be looking to use most or all of de Haan’s $4.45 Million AAV to re-sign Justin Faulk or to allocate it as part of Sebastian Aho’s new deal.

How this affects the Leafs is that it likely means that Canes GM Don Waddell will not be willing to move another veteran blueliner such as Dougie Hamilton, Faulk or Brett Pesce before the start of training camp, with former first-rounders Jake Bean, Haydn Fleury and the recently acquired Gustav Forsling taking the spot of de Haan.

If that is the case, GM Kyle Dubas is seeing potential options for upgrading the blueline fade away before July 1.

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