Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Any Rookies Crack the Lineup?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a very deep roster for the salary cap era.

I think this fact gets lost in the excitement of having such a young team and not even being a season removed from picking first overall. The Toronto Maple Leafs a 40 goal centre, a 32 goal centre, and then a line that features their (going by Game-Score) best overall player in terms of total impact (JVR) and player that compares favorably to the skill-set of Patrick Kane.

We worry constantly (it seems) about their defense, but they’ve got three solid, young puck movers on team-friendly contracts, a blue-Chip prospect and a whole bunch of decent options.

The only problem that comes with a deep team is that it becomes harder and harder to make it. A year ago, no one cared about results and no one thought twice about stacking a lineup with a preposterous amount of rookies. Now, it will be difficult for any young players to crack the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Based on last year’s lineup, plus the recent summer-time additions of Marleau etc. there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of room for anyone to force their way onto the team.

Open Spots on Forward

If you go by last year’s forward lines, then the addition of Marleau forces someone onto the fourth line (Hyman seems the likeliest candidate, but who knows?) and makes it so there is no place for Kapanen or Leivo to play.

Moore replaces Boyle, but the fourth line centre spot appears to be the only conceivable job a rookie could steal. But even that is unlikely. At the very least, it’s Moore’s job to begin with, and I think they’d have to be absolutely blown away by someone else for him to lose it.

But as long as JVR and Bozak remain with the team, there just isn’t room on the forward spots for Kapanen or Leivo, let alone someone like Jeremy Bracco, Adam Brookes or Carl Gundstrom.

Since it doesn’t make sense to have protected the older Leivo over the higher ceiling and younger Brendan Leipsic if they don’t plan to play Leivo, and since the team’s need for solid defense means they can’t go without Kapanen for long, I still think JVR and Bozak will get traded before the season starts.

But as of today, I think there is zero chances for any rookie forwards besides Kapanen to make the team.

Open Spots on Defense

If it was up to me, I’d skate Gardiner with Carrick, Zaitsev with Marincin and Rielly with whatever rookie forces his way on to the team. Ron Hainsey would be my seventh.

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But it isn’t up to me, and I think there is a very good chance that the Leafs would promote someone ahead of Carrick or Marincin. Especially if the plan is to play Gardiner with Zaitsev as a top pairing, and then have Rielly with Hainsey. This is probably the worst direction the Leafs could go, but it does seem to be what everyone thinks will happen.

I think it is much better to balance the three pairs with Gardiner, Rielly and Zaitsev all on different lines. I think the next best option is to pair Gardiner and Rielly.

Either way, no one can guarantee that Carrick or Marancin is for sure going to be on the team. The odds are long that Timothy Liljegren will make it this year, but there is also Andrew Neilson and Travis Dermott who’ll be looking to make it. To a lesser extent, there is also a chance, albeit pretty long, that Calle Rosen or Andreas Borgman could make it. They are both early twenties Swedish Free Agent defenseman. It being Toronto, there is almost no way to tell how good they are, as everyone has an opinion, but no one has seen them, and I don’t know what kind of stats are available from the Swedish League.

Conclusion

Either way, I’m holding my judgement back on them, at least until they stop being interchangeable to me. It is not impossible that a 23 year old undrafted player can step right into the NHL, but it also doesn’t seem likely.

Next: Who Is Gonna Win the East?

In the end, training camp this year is all about seeing if Kapanen and Leivo can force the Toronto Maple Leafs to make a move to clear space for them. It doesn’t look good for any other young forwards hoping to make the team. On defense, there could be a couple spots available, but the most likely scenario is that the team goes with the incumbents and adds a seventh defenseman from outside the organization, while letting the prospects develop in the various minor leagues.

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