The Toronto Maple Leafs have to be very happy about training camp for a number of reasons.
Goalies are random, and you never know what you’re going to get, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have to at least be thankful that a strong training camp by both goalies dampened the noise surrounding the team’s net.
There is no reason to think that training camp will be an indication of what will happen, but seeing both Murray and Samsonov get off to good starts is, at the least, a very encouraging sign.
Perhaps less important, but still much appreciated, were the strong training camps of Nick Robertson and Denis Malgin, both of whom did all they could to make the team.
Whether or not they play Wednesday night against Montreal is out of their hands. Both players have made it on merit, but outside factors may still keep one or both from the starting the season with the team.
Toronto Maple Leafs Still Have Cuts to Make
Depending on who is injured or traded before Wednesday, and on who the team thinks they can sneak through waivers, and who they don’t want to lose, Denis Malgin and Nick Robertson may or may not make the opening night lineup.
Both players deserve to make it on merit, but there are a lot of moving parts on this roster right now. The Leafs have cut several players, including Wayne Simmonds and Alex Steeves, making Malgin and Robertson more likely to have made it, but it’s still unsure.
Malgin had three goals and six points in five games, including a sweet breakaway goal from last night. Robertson played four games and had five points. (naturalstattrick.com).
The ability to provide depth scoring on league-minimum salaries cannot be overstated. The Leafs with Sandin, Liljegren, Giordano, Bunting, and potentially Malgin and Robertson could have six impact players making less than a million dollars. That is an underrated aspect of what makes them the NHL’s best current team.
Whatever happens between now and Wednesday is out of the two bubble player’s hands.
John Tavares may or may not be ready to go on Wednesday, and his injury could dictate a lot of what happens. If he’s only going to miss a couple of games, the Leafs are still significantly over the salary cap. It does not appear that he is injured enough to go onto the long-term injured reserve and give the Leafs a couple of weeks of cap relief.
That is a good thing. The last place you really want to find cap relief is with one of your elite star players injured.
Much better to solve the problem elsewhere.
Alex Kerfoot is still with the team.
Jake Muzzin played his first game of the preseason last night.
The Leafs are more than $2 million over the cap, and so something has to give.
Timothy Liljegren is out for another month or so, and that is the only thing preventing the blue-line from being as crowded as the forwards. If everyone is healthy, the Toronto Maple Leafs have seven top-four defenseman in Rielly, Brodie, Muzzin, Holl, Liljegren, Sandin and Giordano.
Surely it’s a good problem to have, but the team is eventually going to have to pick between Just Holl and Jake Muzzin. Given the salary and handedness of each player, it’s a no brainer to stick with Holl…..but Muzzin has a no-movement clause.
More to come.