Toronto Maple Leafs Televised Training Camp Scrimmage Preview

Yes, you read the title right that we’re actually previewing a Toronto Maple Leafs training camp scrimmage.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have only played five games in the past nine months, so give me a break. If they televised practices, I would have been previewing those as well.

Anyway, the Toronto Maple Leafs will hold a team scrimmage on January 9 at 7PM EST at Scotiabank Arena and it’ll broadcast live on TSN and Sportsnet in Canada. Like they typically do every training camp, the Leafs will split their roster up for a Team Blue vs. Team White match-up.

Essentially Team Blue has the Leafs first, fourth and fifth best lines, while Team White has the second, third and sixth.

Although this game doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, it’ll be exciting to see the team in action again. Like I previously mentioned, the Leafs haven’t played a meaningful game since August. We’ve been starving for content more than Homer Simpson during his hunger strike against the Springfield Isotopes.

Team Blue vs. Team White Square Off on Saturday Night

Let’s take a look at the roster below and preview the match-up.

After looking at these rosters, my initial reaction was that Team Blue had the advantage. However, let’s grade each forward line, defensive pairing and goaltending match-up to determine a realistic conclusion.

Forwards

First Line:

• Team Blue: (Thornton-Matthews-Marner)
  • Grade: A+
• Team White: (Vesey-Tavares-Nylander)
  • Grade: A
• Thoughts: 
  • The duo of Tavares and Nylander would be first-line material on almost any other team, but the Matthews-Marner combination is arguably the best in the NHL. Slight edge for Team Blue

Second Line:

• Team Blue: (Barabanov-Spezza-Simmonds)
  • Grade: C+
• Team White: (Mikheyev-Engvall-Hyman)
  • Grade: B
• Thoughts:
  • We’ve yet to see what Mikheyev and Hyman can do together, but I’d expect them to play well. Team Blue’s line is slightly worse than Team White, so White get’s the advantage here.

Third Line:

• Team Blue: (Robertson-Brooks-Anderson)
  • Grade: B-
• Team White: (Petan-Chartier-Boyd)
  • Grade: C
• Thoughts:
  • Team White has a veteran AHL line-up, but Team Blue has more potential and fire-power so I give them the advantage.

Defense

First Pairing:

• Team Blue: (Reilly-Brodie)
  • Grade: A
• Team White: (Muzzin-Holl)
  • Grade: A-
• Thoughts:
  • I love the Leafs top-four this year, but Team Blue has the advantage because they have the best defenseman on the team (Rielly).

Second Pairing: 

• Team Blue: (Sandin-Dermott)
  • Grade: C+
• Team White: (Lehtonen-Bogosian)
  • Grade: B
• Thoughts?
  • I like the idea of Sandin and Dermott playing together because of their skating ability but it also scares me. I know Lehtonen is an NHL rookie but he’s a veteran to professional hockey and being paired with Bogosian should make his transition to the NHL much easier, so advantage Team White.

Third Pairing:

• Team Blue: (Rosen-Hollowell)
  • Grade: C
• Team White: (Marincin-Liljegren)
  • Grade: C-
• Thoughts?
  • I feel like Marincin will be with the Leafs until he’s 40-years-old at this point. Both of these defensive pairings aren’t great, but I like Rosen’s game more than any of these four, so I’d give a slight advantage to Team Blue

Goaltending

• Team Blue: (Campbell-Dell)
  • Grade: B
• Team White: (Andersen-Hutchinson)
  • Grade: B+
• Thoughts?
  • Although Dell is more reliable than Hutchinson, Andersen is a better option than Campbell. If both goaltenders play the same minutes, this should even out, but since Andersen is the best goalie of all four, I’d give a slight advantage to Team White.

Conclusion

Overall, Team Blue has the advantage in four of the seven categories, but Team White has the biggest benefit by having the best goaltender. I think the Leafs did a great job making this game as fair as possible, so it should be a close game.

Although it’s only a training camp scrimmage, it’s still fun to predict. Team Blue wins 5-3.