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Toronto Maple Leafs: The Battles for the Last Few Roster Spots

By David Corcoran

MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JULY 08: Fraser Minten, #38 pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning, poses for a portrait during the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on July 08, 2022 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JULY 08: Fraser Minten, #38 pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning, poses for a portrait during the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on July 08, 2022 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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MONTREAL, CANADA – SEPTEMBER 29: Fraser Minten #39 of the Toronto Maple Leafs   (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, CANADA – SEPTEMBER 29: Fraser Minten #39 of the Toronto Maple Leafs   (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

The Young Guns

No player has seen his value increase more than former second round pick Fraser Minten.  The Toronto Maple Leafs may have struck it with another depth draft pick by taking Minten 38th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft.

Minten will start start his fifth game of the Pre Season Thursday night and has collected four points in the first four games.  Only Nick Robertson has fired the puck more times at that net than Minten’s 12 so far during the exhibition games.

If there is one player that is forcing Keefe and Treliving to strongly think about a big adjustment to the forward crop it is Minten who may be finding himself receiving nine further games during the regular season to audition for the whole year.

Similar to Minten, recent first round pick Easton Cowan has impressed the coaching staff and is still remaining at training camp, however of the forwards that remain he is likely the easiest choice to send down where he can head back to junior.

The Surprise

Last season the Maple Leafs brought in Zach Aston Reese on a Professional Tryout; and this season Noah Gregor fills that role.  The difference is there seems to be a lot more upside to Gregor than there was with ZAR.

Gregor has looked very good in a fourth line role with the Maple Leafs this pre-season.  The Beaumont native has dressed in five games and collected three points, while firing 11 shots on net.  He looks to have a lot of similarities to Ilya Mikheyev and it appears all but a lock that Gregor will sign a one-year contract with the team.

The benefit of signing Gregor is the team that the team can retain his rights next off-season by qualifying him.

Good Enough to Stick

The two players that should make the team that may lose out strictly because they are waiver exempt is Nick Robertson and Pontus Holmberg.  Both players are NHL level players now and deserve to be on the roster.  Once the William Nylander center experience ends, which could be as early as Thursday Holmberg would have a quicker path to the lineup.

Robertson has looked good, but unlucky during the exhibition games and has averaged nearly four shots a game, but has scored just once.

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