Who Will Be Cut First From Toronto Maple Leafs Training Camp?

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to cut their roster down significantly before their first regular season game on October 13th.

There are currently  52 players at the Toronto Maple Leafs camp, but they’ll have to cut down to between 20 -23 players.

Usually there are several rounds of cuts, so the roster most likely won’t be too much clearer even after the first cut.  Still, with several job openings, even the first cut will have interesting implications.

I’m guessing the first round of cuts will happen very soon, and today we’ll take a look into who might be the first to go.

Toronto Maple Leafs First Roster Cuts Predictions

Here’s my prediction for the players that will leave the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp during the first round of cuts:

Curtis Douglas (F)
Richard Clune (F)
Brett Seney (F)
Pavel Gogolev (F)
Mikhail Abramov (F)
Joey Anderson (F)
Matt Hellickson (D)
Joseph Duszak (D)
William Villeneuve (D)
Teemu Kivihalme (D)
Mac Hollowell (D)
Filip Král (D)
Alex Biega (D)

The only player that may be surprising out of the bunch is Joey Anderson.  His chances of making the Toronto Maple Leafs opening night roster were always pretty slim but some speculated that his defensive abilities may have developed to the point where he would compete for a bottom six role on the team.

I think Joey Anderson will be cut because he’s been practicing with some of the bottom line guys (most recently Curtis Douglas and Brett Seney), and received the least amount of ice time of any Toronto Maple Leafs player during their preseason loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

All of the players I’ve listed will most likely be assigned to the Toronto Marlies except for William Villeneuve who is still junior age and will play with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL this season. (eliteprospects.com)

Joey Anderson, Brett Seney, Teemu Kivihalme and Alex Biega will all have to clear waivers before being assigned to the Toronto Marlies, but the chances of any of them being claimed by another NHL team are very unlikely.

Semyon Der-Arguchintsev is another player that could be cut soon however, he has recently suffered an undisclosed injury and the Toronto Maple Leafs may wait for him to heal before officially assigning him the the Toronto Marlies.

Ian Scott, Joseph Woll and Alex Steeves are also injured players that will likely be re-assigned at some point. If it weren’t for the injuries to goalies, Ian Scott and Joseph Woll, Erik Källgren and Evan Cormier would probably also be among the first players to be cut.

There are still lots of cuts to be made before the opening night roster is fully assembled.  I’m excited to see who makes the final cut.