Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Storylines After First Day of Training Camp

#3. Alexander Barabanov In as 12th Forward, Nick Robertson Out

The first day of training camp shouldn’t determine the opening night line-up, but it’s definitely an indication of what’s going to happen. As you can see in the tweet below, Sheldon Keefe currently has Alexander Barabanov in the lineup, instead of Nick Robertson.

The Leafs will have a taxi squad that will allow them to frequently alternate who dresses and who sits.  As a waiver exempt player, Robertson, along with Pierre Engvall is likely to come in and out of the lineup a lot, as is Barabanov.  Players like Vesey and Simmonds aren’t necessarily better or going to help the team more, but they’ll benefit from potentially being lost if moved to the taxi squad, so they are likely to get first crack at jobs.

Barabanov is a 26-year-old forward who’s been playing professional hockey since 2013, whereas Robertson only has four NHL games under his belt.

Robertson can only play six more games until he burns one season of his Entry Level Contract, so you may as well keep him on the Taxi-Squad to train with the Leafs and get better as a professional, before putting him in the line-up everyday. The Leafs don’t need Robertson this season, as much as they’ll need him next year, as the team will have six UFA forward spots to fill.

#2. Huge Battle for the Taxi-Squad

Another new wrinkle to the NHL season is the “Taxi Squad.” For those of you unfamiliar with how this is going to work, here’s a quick recap, thanks to Pat Hickey of The Montreal Gazette.

“The taxi squads will have a minimum of four players and a maximum of six and must include a goaltender unless a team is carrying three goalies on its NHL roster. Players can move freely between the taxi squad and the NHL roster, but call-ups must be made prior to 5 p.m. on game day.”

Since the Leafs are tight to the salary cap, I’d expect them to have six players on the Taxi Squad and roster a 21-man line-up at all times. This will give them the best opportunity to get under the salary cap every night and potentially add to their roster if necessary.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1345784553101811714

Since the “Taxi Squad” works the same as if you were sending a player to the AHL, the Leafs will most likely put as many of their waiver-exempt players on there. If they do it this way, they won’t have to worry about losing a player they’d like to keep and can still get them into the NHL line-up often. Here’s my projection of what the squad could look like:

• Pierre Engvall
• Joey Anderson
• Rasmus Sandin
• Nick Robertson
• Travis Boyd
• Joseph Woll

The only player the Leafs would have to worry about losing to waivers is Travis Boyd, which is a big win for them. Obviously, they’d hate to see him go before playing a game in the organization, but he won’t fit the main roster with the amount of forward depth they have.

#1. Top-Six is Very Different from 2019-20 Season

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander are obviously still in the top-six, but Sheldon Keefe announced a change that turned a few heads. Instead of Hyman and Mikheyev, Vesey and Thornton will be skating on the top two lines.

I’m a huge fan of this move for three reasons.

1. Joe Thornton’s vision will increase Matthews’ chances at winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.
2. Jimmy Vesey has top-six talent and has never played with talent like Tavares or Nylander before. He’s bound for a 20-goal campaign.
3. Spreading out Mikheyev and Hyman to the third-line creates three great scoring lines, instead of two.

I’ve said this multiple times, but I think the duo of Tavares-Nylander and Matthews-Marner can elevate any other winger they play with. Thornton’s IQ will be perfect on the top-line, while Vesey’s offensive totals will increase tremendously playing with high-end talent like John Tavares and William Nylander, for the first time in his career.

The line of Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Hyman doesn’t need to score a combined 65 goals to be impactful, but instead will be more concerned about puck possession and defense. Instead of facing the top defensive pairing every night when he was on Matthews’ line, Hyman should be even more effective playing against inferior defensive opponents on the Leafs third-line.

Overall, the balance of this line-up looks very good with the addition of Thornton and Vesey into the top-six. Expect a huge season from Vesey if these lines stay the same way for the 56-game campaign.