Editor In Leaf
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Toronto Maple Leafs: Moving Forward with the Roster

By Andrew Boehmer

Apr 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock (C) and players salute the fans after losing the series to the Washington Capitals in game six of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. The Capitals beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock (C) and players salute the fans after losing the series to the Washington Capitals in game six of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. The Capitals beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Time to take a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs current roster.

About a month ago, I predicted what the Toronto Maple Leafs roster might look like come puck drop in October.

The gist of the article was that the Leafs don’t really need a major line overhaul, just some minor tweaks here and there.

I showed what the lines looked like as of their last playoff game and just to be on one page, I’ll show it again here.

Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – William Nylander

Leo Komarov – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitchell Marner

Matt Martin – Brian Boyle – Kasperi Kapanen

Matt Hunwick – Morgan Rielly

Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

Martin Marincin – Connor Carrick

Frederik Andersen

Curtis McElhinney

Two notable absences are Nikita Soshnikov and Roman Polak but I expect the latter of the two to be gone pretty soon.

Moving on.

Current Roster

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Okay, now let’s take a look at where we are right now and included below are recent acquisitions and basically, anyone that could see action next season.

I’m excluding Hunwick and Polak because they’re unrestricted free agents and the chances of either being resigned are pretty slim.

I’ll also leave McElhinney in there because I really hope he’ll be back for another year.

Lastly, Boyle is the one wild card, so he’s going to stay as well because I believe the Leafs could and should overpay him for a year.

However, that’s just a matter of will he sign a short-term contract.

Hyman – Matthews – Nylander

Komarov – Kadri – Brown

van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Marner

Martin – Boyle – Kapanen

Rielly – [insert name here]

Gardiner – Zaitsev

Marincin – Carrick

Andersen

McElhinney

We’re obviously missing a right-handed pairing for Rielly.

Peculiar.

Here are the guys that could pop up onto the lineup next season.

  • Eric Fehr
  • Nikita Soshnikov
  • Ben Smith
  • Josh Leivo
  • Alexey Marchenko
  • Miro Aaltonen
  • Carl Grundström
  • Calle Rosén
  • Andreas Borgman
  • Travis Dermott
  • Frederik Gauthier
  • Jeremy Bracco
  • Andrew Nielsen
  • Brendan Leipsic

Remember, one of the guys above will potentially be lost in the Expansion Draft.

I say potentially because it could be someone not on that list, but I highly doubt it.

Final Thoughts

My final thoughts are that the Leafs could press forward with the group they have, but I don’t think this is a contending team quite yet.

That’s not to say that this couldn’t be the makeup for one, it’ll just take more time then this next season.

If there’s a good chance to externally fill that spot to the right of Rielly, then it should be done.

If not, let’s see what we have internally after some more time.

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