The Toronto Maple Leafs have brought back most of the same team they had last year.
Though the Toronto Maple Leafs made many new additions to the roster, they only lost one major player – Zach Hyman. The other departures – Joe Thornton, Zach Bogosian, Frederick Andersen – sound like big losses because they are all name-brand players, but in reality they are a fourth liner, sixth defenseman and backup goalie. Not a big deal.
With the return of most of their lineup, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have a very interesting training camp with incredibly fierce job competition. At first glance, the only lineup spots open are the top two left wing spots, however, I don’t think we can count Wayne Simmonds, Pierre Engvall or even Jason Spezza as having definite, every day jobs.
It seems likely that they will, but one never gets any respect and the other two are getting up their and massive decline could come for them at any time.
Though training camp is still a month away, let’s take our best guess at what lineup the Toronto Maple Leafs will deploy on opening night.