4 players that won’t make the Toronto Maple Leafs 2024-25 Opening Night roster
Which Maple Leafs players will be left off the roster for Opening Night?
As training camp will be coming to a close after this upcoming weekend, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have some decisions to make with regards to which players will make the team’s Opening Night roster.
There’s no doubt that for many of the Toronto Maple Leafs players that are on the bubble, they will try their best to make a last ditch effort to improve their chances for a spot in the regular lineup.
For some, they will be lucky enough to grab a precious role for the 2024-25 NHL season, but whereas for others, they will likely still have some more work to do in order to get back a spot on the Leafs roster.
Here, we take a look at four Maple Leafs players that will fall short in making the team for the upcoming regular season.
4 players that won’t make the Toronto Maple Leafs 2024-25 Opening Night roster
Matt Murray
Veteran goalie Matt Murray was brought back by the Leafs on a value one-year contract worth $875,000 this offseason to help provide valuable goaltending depth for the organization. When on his game, Murray can actually be a solid tandem netminder even at 30 years old. The biggest and perhaps only problem has been his troubles in staying healthy throughout his career. Last season was no different, as he spent the entire 2023–24 season on the sidelines after having bilateral hip surgery.
Nevertheless, when he was healthy, Murray recorded a 14-8-2 winning record with a 3.01 GAA and .903 save percentage in 26 career games with the Maple Leafs. So far during this preseason, he has performed solidly, giving up 3 goals on 18 shots in two appearances. However, barring an injury to either Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz, Murray will likely serve as this year’s Martin Jones.
With the Leafs highly unlikely to go with a three-goalie rotation, he won’t make the Opening Night roster as a result. Rather, he should be able to make it through waivers and stay in shape with the Toronto Marlies as he awaits his chance over the course of the season.
Connor Dewar
Acquired last season at the trade deadline from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for the Leafs 2026 4th round pick and forward Dmitry Ovchinnikov, Connor Dewar played a vital role on the team’s fourth line down the stretch.
In addition, he also became a key member of the penalty killing unit as well. Despite his strength being his defense, Dewar still managed to put up one goal and five points in 17 games following the deadline with the Leafs.
He also possesses a surprising scoring touch, as he reached double digits in goals with the Wild prior to joining Toronto.
Thus far, Dewar has been kept out of action this training camp after having offseason shoulder surgery. Although, he has now since practiced in a regular sweater with the team in recent days.
Nevertheless, he will likely need at least some more time to get up to speed, so there’s a good chance that he will not be on the Leafs roster to start the season as he works himself back into game form.
Jani Hakanpaa
One of the Leafs weirdest offseason signings was Jani Hakanpaa who has a knee injury so bad many thought he'd never play again. The defensive guru adds tremendous size and strength to the Maple Leafs back end and will likely be played of much better, higher upside players by Leafs head coach Craig Berube.
If you are looking for a slow player who is good at defense but hurts his team more than he helps due to a penchant for getting hemmed in his own zone, Hakanpaa is the player for you. He won’t be lighting up the scoreboard, with his 15 goals and 45 career points in 288 games in the NHL. But he will try to make sure the opponents won’t do the same as well when he is on the ice.
Hakanpaa has just recently got back on the ice and started practising with the Leafs. He had been recovering all summer from his knee injury that ultimately required an arthroscopic procedure to resolve. However, in terms of his progress, Hakanpaa is a little more behind than Dewar. As a result, he will likely start the season on LTIR for more reasons than one while he works his way back into game shape.
In terms of a timeline, Hakanpaa likely won’t suit up in a Leafs uniform until probably some time in November at the earliest, if he ends up doing well enough to make the team.
Ryan Reaves
The biggest myth in hockey is that you need an enforcer to protect your star players. Most teams have realized this to be true, but the Leafs insist on wasting a roster spot on the worst player in the NHL anyways.
Still, with the Leafs getting deeper at the bottom of their lineup, it may prevent Ryan Reaves from making the Leafs regular lineup for the 2024-24 season. After all, Reaves hasn’t been a fleet-footed skater for most of his NHL career. Now at 37 years old, he isn’t going to get any faster any time soon as well.
Last season, Reaves tallied 4 goals and 6 points over 49 games for the Maple Leafs. However, he was a great liability when on the ice playing in 5-on-5 situations, giving up 12 more goals than the team had scored along with a CF% of 48%, consistently tilting the ice in the opposition’s favour. The fact that he also doesn’t really kill penalties, his role becomes quite limited to just handling some of the rough stuff when needed. (All stats from nhl.com and naturalstattrick.com)
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It is definitely not necessity for Reaves to be in the lineup at all, but there is no telling what the Leafs will do. If they cut him, it would significantly improve the Leafs both from an offensive and defensive standpoint. As a result, look for the biggest surprise on Opening Night for the Leafs to be Reaves omission from the roster.