With five days until the Toronto Maple Leafs season starts, there are still some cuts to be made.
The Toronto Maple Leafs iced a lineup against the Montreal Canadians that is likely to be the opening night roster.
Enter new additions: Dmytro Timashov, Ilya Mikheyev, Cody Ceci and Rasmus Sandin.
We already knew that Ceci was going to make the team. They’re paying him $4.5 million, so he better be playing. The other three were a nice surprise.
Sandin was the biggest, nicest and unexpected surprise that’s still with the Leafs. At 5’11”, there was hope over the summer that he would get bigger, which he did.
In these past few games, he’s looked incredible. He’s shown that he can make key plays and become a great NHL defender.
Mikheyev has shown that he can be in the NHL, and maybe even a 20-goal scorer. He’s big, he’s fast and he’s got some great hands. He will likely be moved to the fourth line, once Zach Hyman returns.
Once that time comes around, the Leafs fourth line is going to be huge and Mike Babcock is going to love it. Three players all over 6’2″, that’s what Babcock likes to see, heavy hockey.
Another change that will come once Hyman returns is Timashov’s place on the roster. He will have to go through waivers, which the Leafs do not want, so he could stay up as a healthy scratch.
What about the other players?
It’s not that the others have been horrible, it’s just the three that will likely make the team have played a lot better.
Players like Jeremy Bracco, Nic Petan, Nick Shore, Kenny Agostino and others were looking to crack a spot, but just can’t. It’s not to say they didn’t have a great preseason because Petan has had a decent one.
Agostino and Shore did as well, but with the way others have played, it’s been significantly better and it’s caught Babcock’s eye.
With the Leafs cap situation, they will likely go with a 23 man roster. If you take Rich Clune and Teemu Kivihalme out, who were both in the NHL lineup against the Montreal Canadiens, there’s two more spots up for grabs.
I think they should take one forward and one defenseman, just for injury purposes.
Babcock has seemed to like Petan’s play as of late, so he will be the likely candidate for press box action.
Ben Harpur is one player on the list of defensemen, but he’s a left-handed shot. You could slot Jordan Schmaltz into the lineup, if you ever did need a right-shot defenseman, which on some nights they might want.
I say it’s Schmaltz over Harpur because they will always need a right-shot in the lineup. Harpur also isn’t fast enough to play at this level. He’s been passed by multiple times and caught out of position.
I expect the opening lineup to be almost similar to the lineup the Toronto Maple leafs iced against Montreal on Wednesday night.
Although, maybe Babcock has some changes up his sleeve.