The Toronto Maple Leafs have cut Roman Polak.
Polak was trying to make the team on a PTO after suffering a leg injury during last year’s playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs GM, Lou Lamoriello, told the media this afternoon that Polak may practice with team while he recovers.
Lou Lamoriello will meet with Roman Polak today. No contract offer from #leafs now, but he might stick around as a practice player.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 2, 2017
Throughout training camp, many media members and fans assumed that Polak was going to get a job, but it never really made sense. The Leafs are cutting multiple NHL defensemen from their team and so it made no sense to give a job to a guy coming off a horrific injury, one who was already slow and (when not on the PK) ineffective.
When Polak was given an ‘A’ during the team’s last preseason game, it ramped up speculation that he’d make the team, but it is not to be. People will speculate that if he’s staying around the team he might make it yet, but come on……the Leafs have the option of nearly a half-dozen better players.
Roman Polak is a warrior and a fan favorite, but it’s just not happening. (Although, the team seems to want to give Ron Hainsey top pairing minutes, so an emotionally based, bad move or two certainly isn’t beyond them).
LilJegren, Rosen, Borgman
Toronto Maple Leafs first round pick Timothy Liljegren raised some eyebrows this morning when he was left off the teams cut list. The Leafs cut their roster down to 26 players and Liljegren was not among them.
More from Editor In Leaf
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Nick Robertson Healthy and Ready
- Ryan Reaves Will Have Zero Impact on Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Playing Max Domi In Top-Six a HUGE Mistake
- Top 10 Scandals in the History of the Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Results from the Traverse City Prospects Tournament
While it would have been awesome to see Liljegren learn at the NHL level, and while he almost certainly would have made it had the situation been the same as last year, the Leafs are looking to win a Cup and so his development will occur in the AHL or Sweden. He’s going to be a fun player to watch………next year. I hope he stays with the Marlies though, because it’s a lot easier/more fun to track his progress that way.
As for Rosen and Borgman, I’m going to level with you: I still can’t differentiate between them! They were signed the same day, they’re both Swedish, they are both fringe-NHLers and well, from what I’ve seen they look alright, though things like huge hits tend to stick in your head and cloud your judgement, so I really don’t want to be making pronunciations or even giving reviews of their play until I see lots more of them. (And until I can remember which is which).
Next: Toronto Maple Leafs Top Ten Prospects
Suffice it to say, it looks like one of them is going to make the Leafs and the other is going to the Marlies. Which one? Does it matter? I don’t know. I do know that whichever one it is, he’ll probably rotate in and out of the lineup as the co-number 7 with the unfairly maligned Martin Marincin.