As the Toronto Maple Leafs prepare for the first preseason game on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators, new head coach Craig Berube noted that there will be three squads at training camp, squad A, squad B, and squad C, the latter a development group.
“Up front, on the back-end, and in goal, there is a lot of competition, which is great,” he said in his media availability.
The Maple Leafs have several players pushing for a spot, such as Easton Cowan, Fraser Minten, who unfortunately suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in training camp, and Nikita Grebenkin to name a few.
Berube also mentioned that identity is important. While the Maple Leafs have several skilled players, there is still the expectation of playing a North-South game, being a hard team to play against, and being a team that checks. This blue-collar identity is something that many Maple Leafs fans wanted to see for years with this group, but haven’t seen it since the Mats Sundin era. With these ideas in mind, let’s try to predict the opening night roster.
Forwards
Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Nicholas Robertson – William Nylander – Max Domi
Bobby McMann – John Tavares – Easton Cowan
Connor Dewar – David Kämpf/Pontus Holmberg – Calle Järnkrok
Extras: Ryan Reaves, David Kämpf/Pontus Holmberg, Max Pacioretty
Berube mentioned in his presser that he is going to start William Nylander at centre, and Max Domi on his wing. In light of this, if Nylander gets an extended look at centre into the regular season, John Tavares will likely transition to the Maple Leafs’ third-line centre position.
This could work out very well, as with Tavares noticeably slowing down as he gets older, it gives him easier matchups and provides the Maple Leafs strength down the middle. Pontus Holmberg can be substituted for David Kämpf and vice-versa as the centreman on the fourth line.
For the wingers, although the Maple Leafs signed Max Pacioretty to a PTO, Treliving said he expects Pacioretty to be on the roster when the regular season begins.
Berube mentioned that Cowan is a worker and a competitive player, but needs to be detailed and not have “junior habits”. Regardless, he may get the same treatment Fraser Minten did last year and play a few games to start the year before being sent back to junior.
Nicholas Robertson is slotted on the second line due to the lack of left-wing depth and getting an extended look higher in the lineup to start the season. Last season, Robertson mainly played third-line minutes, while still producing 14 goals.
Each forward line has a good combination of skill, grit, speed, and goal-scoring that would likely fit Berube’s style.
Defence
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit – Timothy Liljegren
Extras: Jani Hakanpää, Conor Timmins
It is expected that Chris Tanev will play with Morgan Rielly, which hopefully stops the carousel of defenders Rielly has played with throughout his tenure with the Maple Leafs. Tanev’s defensive-minded game characterized by a willingness to break up plays and block shots will hopefully allow Rielly to play a more offensive game. The Maple Leafs sorely need offence from the back end.
Although the Simon Benoit and Jake McCabe pairing played extremely well last year, Berube will likely not put both offensive defencemen Oliver Ekman–Larsson and Timothy Liljegren together. Ekman-Larsson and McCabe can be similar to the Rielly and Tanev pairing in that it would pair an offensively-minded defenceman with a more defensively-minded player in McCabe. This trend would continue with the Benoit and Liljegren pairing.
Berube said that Jani Hakanpää will start in squad C to start training camp as he continues to come back from injury. He will likely play on the Maple Leafs’ third pairing as the season progresses but have him scratched to continue to heal to start the regular season.
Hakanpää, like Joel Edmundson, and Ilya Lyubushkin, provides that physical menace style of play on the third pair. Hopefully, Hakanpää can remain healthy as the Maple Leafs tend to spend draft capital at the trade deadline each year for these types of players.
Topi Niemela is among the Maple Leaf’s top defence prospects. He played his first full AHL season last year with the Toronto Marlies, playing 68 games and notching 39 points. At 22 years old, Niemela still has room to develop in the minor league at this point.
Goaltending
Extras: Matt Murray
With General Manager Brad Treliving saying “I have all the confidence in the world in Joe. I think he is one of the top young goaltenders in the league,” it’s obvious that he is viewed as the Maple Leafs future starter. Although his injury history and lack of experience are a concern, he has had flashes of brilliance, notably in the playoffs. He will be playing in tandem with newly signed Anthony Stolarz.
The logjam
When viewing the proposed starting lines above, an obvious problem emerges: the Maple Leafs have one too many players. It is speculated that Timmins and one of Kämpf or Järnkrok will be traded, similar to how Sam Lafferty was traded last year to start the year.
Regardless of how the Maple Leafs solve the logjam of players, there is no shortage of competition in this training camp. It will be interesting to see which players make a push for the opening night roster, and whether some players force the Maple Leafs’ coaching staff to make tough decisions.
