The Toronto Maple Leafs have turned over about half their roster this summer in an effort to balance the roster and fix the salary cap problems left to them by Lou Lamoriello.
With all that roster turnover, the Toronto Maple Leafs are set to have one of the most interesting, competitive training camps in recent memory.
The Leafs have jettisoned Ron Hainsey (thankfully), Nikita Zaitsev, Andreas Borgman and Calle Rosen so far this summer.
With four NHL quality defenseman off the roster, the way is clear for the Leafs top two prospects – Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin – to make the NHL.
Now, no one is saying that they will make the Leafs in October, but they do have a chance to play their way onto the team (and will guarantee that both make their NHL debuts sometime this season).
Liljegren and Sandin
It’s been kind of funny watching Leafs Nation pencil Cody Ceci into the top four while assuming that neither rookie has a chance to make the team. (If we’re being honest, both rookies are probably better right now).
Cody Ceci was the cost of getting out of the last five year’s of Zaitsev’s crazy deal, and the Leafs signed him because he has value to other teams, and may have some untapped upside.
He might end up playing in the Leafs top four – at least until Travis Dermott comes back – but his very existence on the Leafs roster GUARANTEES that there is at least a shot that anyone attending training camp has a chance to make the team.
Both Liljegren and Sandin are among the youngest defensemen to ever succeed in the AHL, and both have played top pairing minutes at some point on the Marlies.
Liljegnre, who is older, and is right handed, would seem to have the inside track, but Sandin is considered the better overall prospect.
With Dermott injured, the Leafs only have three players guaranteed jobs on the blue line – Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin and Tyson Barrie.
Ceci, Schmaltz, Harpur, Gravel, Marincin and Holl will all be looking to win jobs in camp, but not a single one of these guys has a fraction of the pure talent that courses through the veins of Liljegren and Sandin.
Once Dermott is back – and assuming no one plays so insane that they win his job – the Toronto Maple Leafs have an incredible top-four that will be among the best in the NHL.
The advantage that Sandin and Liljegren have over the rest of their competitors, is that they have much, much higher ceilings. The upside for those guys is massive, and combined with their cheap contracts, would give the Toronto Maple Leafs some real depth to their lineup.
Assuming that in 99 out of 100 cases, an elite player on the third pairing gets moved up the lineup, the difference between the best and worst third pairing defensemen in the NHL is practically nil.
With that knowledge in hand, there is no real downside to playing rookie defensemen in the NHL, but if they have top-four potential, then there is a lot of upside to such a move.
The Leafs will see the contracts of Tyson Barrie and Jake Muzzin expire at the end of this season. Ideally, you won’t be giving out any major contracts to players in or approaching their 30s.
The combined money of those two players will allow them to replace one of them. The other is going to have to be replaced internally, and the only way to do that is to get the rookie seasons for their two top prospects out of the way.
So you can almost guarantee that at least one of them will make the team, and it’s a certainty that both make their NHL debuts this season.