The Toronto Maple Leafs completed the opening weekend of training camp in Niagara Falls, ON on Sunday with a third day of scrimmages and drills at Gale Centre Arena.
Auston Matthews and the combination of John Tavares and Mitch Marner have put on a show and tantalized some of the fans, but Mike Babcock is less focused on his top players and concentrating on the roster battle for the depth spots at forward, defense and backup goaltender. The Leafs head coach singled out a few players that have impressed him at the start of camp, but also warned that others have been sluggish out of the gate.
“I thought (Kasperi Kapanen) has looked unreal and (Par) Lindholm has looked good. We’ve got some guys doing a lot of good things, (but) we’ve got a few guys who are not up to speed, but we’ll get that sorted out.” Babcock said. “Sometimes when you arrive (in the league), and you do it for a little bit, you think you’ve arrived, but what you realize is that the guys who are the best, they work harder each and every summer to get better and reinvent themselves.”
Babcock indicated that the proving ground for a number of players on the bubble. Up front, Lindholm and Freddy Gauthier look to be the main contestants in the center competition, with the Swedish import having to adjust to the North American ice surface and the Leafs 2013 first rounder needing to step up and use his size to win the fourth line center job.
Veteran Tyler Ennis is being given an opportunity to lock down a job by playing alongside Matthews and Patrick Marleau with William Nylander not in camp, as is perennial healthy scratch Josh Leivo, who has lined up with Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown.
The Leafs are likely to carry 13 forwards past the final cutdown at the end of September and only an impasse in Nylander’s negotiations lasting into the regular season will keep both wingers on the club’s roster.
The only safe haven on defense appears to be the top four of Morgan Rielly, Ron Hainsey, Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev. Travis Dermott is expected to have an important and increasing role this season after an impressive rookie debut and winning the Calder Cup, but if there is any complacency in his game, blueliners Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, Martin Marincin, Jordan Subban, Justin Holl and Igor Ozhiganov will be vying to make the jump.
The Leafs have been rotating most their bottom pairing applicants throughout the scrimmages and their performance in the eight exhibition games will be the determining factor. Rosen, Marincin and Holl were integral parts of the Toronto Marlies Calder Cup run and the club’s management recruited Ozhiganov hard to bring him over from the KHL.
GM Kyle Dubas said everything will be factored into the decision of who makes and does not make the final roster, and a player’s waiver status could be a significant factor.
Lindholm, Ozhiganov, Rosen and Andreas Borgman are all waiver exempt on their entry-level deals, so they can be sent to the AHL without fear of being claimed. Marincin, Holl, Subban, Ennis, Leivo and the three backup goalies (Curtis McElhinney, Garret Sparks and Calvin Pickard) all have to be exposed to waivers to get down to the Marlies.
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