We are only one day away from the Toronto Maple Leafs opening night, and as of Monday, Oct. 7, all 32 NHL teams needed to have their cap compliant. The Maple Leafs announced their roster that included 28 players, with Connor Dewar and Fraser Minten heading to the injured reserve (IR). As well as Jani Hakanpää, Calle Järnkrok, and Dakota Mermis going on to long-term injury reserve (LTIR), which allowed the team to carry a few extra players and sign both Steven Lorentz and Max Pacioretty to one-year deals.
There will be a move to be made when players are eligible to come off of the IR and LTIR and the Maple Leafs need to clear cap space. Which makes the next number of games all the more important for players on the cusp of staying in the NHL or within the organization. With the Maple Leafs having five players on either IR or LTIR, it allowed them to carry 23 players and be right up to the cap. According to PuckPedia, the organization has $0 in current cap space, and they are deciding to carry 13 forwards, eight defencemen, and two goalies.
The Forward Group
Starting off with the projected forward group for opening night against the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs have more of Brad Treliving’s identity this season than last, which also helps when the new coach Craig Berube believes in the same hard-to-play against style hockey.
Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Max Domi – John Tavares – William Nylander
Max Pacioretty – Pontus Holmberg – Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves
Extra: Bobby McMann
A few notes from the projected forward lines are that McMann will likely be a healthy scratch for opening night. Berube said, “There’s more there. I know that. Bobby knows that. I felt like maybe he was a little hesitant at times. He’s a great skater. Good size. Power forward out there. I’m not too worried about it.”
Related: Maple Leafs News & Rumors: Pacioretty, Webber, Lorentz, Rifai & Murray
Robertson starts in the bottom six, however, will continue to get the chance to play with Pacioretty. After dominating the preseason with five goals in four games, he and Pacioretty have shown that they can provide the team with depth scoring while also having very good chemistry together.
The duo of Lorentz and Reaves showed that they can get in on the forecheck hard and make it hard on the opposition’s defence. They showed this in the last preseason game that they played the Detroit Red Wings, which led to a goal by Lorentz. With the addition of Kampf to this line, these three could be a very good forechecking fourth line for Berube. When Dewar returns to full health, he will also be able to slot into the fourth line and fit the mold of what Berube has built for his fourth line.
Aside from that, the top-six is essentially what every member of Leafs Nation would expect. However, Nylander’s second trial run at the center position came to a quick end, and now he finds himself back with Tavares on the second line. The biggest difference this season versus last is that Tavares and Nylander play alongside Domi, who can provide the line additional speed, skill, and tenacity. Whereas, Knies will be joining the top line with Matthews and Marner and will be the net-front presence as well as the member of the trio that digs hard in the corners and uses his body to make a play.
All in all, Berube has put together a fairly solid forward group for opening night. The only member missing that should be a big impact player is McMann. It’ll be interesting who he takes out of the lineup, but it could make sense for him to replace Pacioretty, to give him games off to keep him as healthy as possible, which could then open a revolving door of forwards who can take nights off.
The Blue Line
Next up, the blue line. Treliving has done a great job rebuilding it to make them bigger and harder to play against, which also matches his identity. He took a smaller defence core from the previous management group and turned it into what he had when he was with the Calgary Flames, which are defenders who are bog-bodied and love to block shots and hit.
Morgan Rielly – Chris Tanev
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit – Conor Timmins
Extras: Philippe Myers, Timothy Liljegren, and Hakanpää
The projected blue line for opening night has drawn some eyeballs; the biggest question mark is surrounding Liljegren and his future with the organization. He is projected to be with McMann in the press box as a healthy scratch. He could be the player who is dealt in a trade to clear cap space for the team, since he signed an extension for $3 million this offseason.
Everything else is to be expected on the back end, besides Timmins being the defenceman to fill the void for Liljegren. However, it does make sense; he had a great camp and only made $1.1 million for a third pairing defender who does well offensively. Inserting him into the lineup gives each pairing an offensive and defensive option, which can make a drastic difference on the breakouts.
Between the Pipes
Lastly, the goalies – although they aren’t the biggest names in the NHL, they looked excellent in the preseason
Joseph Woll
Anthony Stolarz
As mentioned above, although they aren’t the sexiest names on the market, Woll and Stolarz were outstanding this preseason and could be one of the sneakiest duos in the NHL. After last season, when Ilya Samsonov struggled and then turned it around later in the year, they needed someone who could play as the backup goalie while also providing healthy competition to push for the starter job. Stolarz has done that already before the season even started and will likely continue to do so during the season.
If Woll can stay healthy, he could play upwards of 50 games this season, which would leave Stolarz with 32 starts. However, if they bring Woll down to 45, Stolarz would be playing in 37 games, making it a near-perfect split while still making it clear who the starter is. This may be the best course of action for Berube and the Maple Leafs.
