Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Training Camp Shocker

James Tanner

I don’t think there will be any ‘shocking’ developments at training camp.

Initially, I had high hopes that Hainsey/Rielly would be broken up, or that Liljegren might make the team, but Mike Babcock seems too conservative, too stubborn and too tuck in his ways for anything substantially interesting to happen without an injury going down.

One player that is obviously going to get more of a look than some people thought is Tyler Ennis.

As I noted when I originally wrote about signing him, he’s fast and good at defence, which allows him to move up the lineup when people are injured (or holding out). At 25% of Matt Martin’s salary, the Leafs get a depth player capable of playing anywhere in the lineup.

He is the player I expect to surprise and not only make the team but play in almost all the games.

A second player that is going to surprise people by moving into a bigger role this year is Connor Carrick. He may be small, but he’s one of the best athletes in the NHL and he’s one of the Leafs best defensive and grittiest players.

He’s going to force his way into the lineup and I won’t be surprised if he’s playing top-four minutes because it seems very clear to me at this point that he is objectively better than either Ron Hainsey or Nikita Zaitsev.

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