Toronto Maple Leafs Announce Cuts to Roster
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced some cuts to the roster this morning.
Teams have until Tuesday to submit a cap-compliant 23 man roster to the NHL, and the Toronto Maple Leafs took the first steps in that regard this morning by cutting 22 players.
From the Leafs PR:
The @MapleLeafs have reduced their roster to 26 players (14 forwards, 10 defencemen and two goaltenders). #TMLTalk pic.twitter.com/HyLhSFoDDO
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 2, 2017
The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent Miro Aaltonen, Travis Dermott, Fred Gauthier, Justin Holl, Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Lindberg, Mason Marchment, Trevor Moore, Andrew Nielson , Michael Paliotta, Nikita Soshnikov, Dymtro Timashov and Rinat Valiev to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.
When you consider that at least half of those players could/should be in the NHL right now, that is an impressive AHL team. ]
The Leafs also cut Colin Greening, Vincent LoVerde, Chris Mueller, Kerby Rychel, Ben Smith and Garrett Sparks. They have been placed on waivers. Should they go unclaimed, they will – one assumes – also join the rest of the players in the AHL.
The Leafs probably don’t have to worry to much about losing any of these guys. Not that it’d be a huge loss if they did, but the fact is that basically every other NHL team is going to be putting six guys on the waiver wire today while trying to become cap compliant. A team like the Avs might try to take a flyer on Rychel, but hopefully he flies under the radar and the Leafs can retain him.
The lone cut not going to the Marlies: Carl Grundstrom. He will go to Sweden.
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Analysis
The majority of these cuts were dictated to the Leafs by the waiver rules. Kasperi Kapanen, Miro Aaltonen and Travis Dermott could all play on the NHL team right now. But if they did, the team would have to demote players that would not clear waivers.
This is the best use of assets, and the team will most likely make a trade at some point to promote these guys. Aaltonen outplayed Moore in camp, but they just signed the vet, so he gets first crack at 4C. Dermott is a huge part of the Leafs future and he’ll be recalled the second someone gets hurt, fails or gets traded.
The error here for the Leafs is not finding a roster spot for Kasperi Kapanen. He’s possibly the Leafs fastest player and second best defensive forward. The Leafs are an extremely weak defensive team, so something has to give. Kasperi Kapanen is an NHL player who will be riding a bus instead of a chartered plane for the next little while.
But it will be a short while because without Kapanen on the team, the Leafs cannot possibly ice their best team.
Of Note, Timothy Liljegren did not get cut!
Next: Will Liljegren Play in the NHL This Year?
The Toronto Maple Leafs will most likely make more cuts later today or tomorrow.