The Toronto Maple Leafs will play a pre-season game tonight in Detroit, which will be their fifth of six on the pre-season schedule.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will open up the season next Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens, and so ahead of this weekends final games, they have made some cuts to the roster.
Though there are no surprises, one play who is on waivers is likely to get selected and go to a new team (although since teams are all making similar cuts, maybe he sneaks through).
That player is Nick Abruzzese, who must clear waivers to go to the AHL. Abruzzese was selected in the 4th round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, and has played 11 games, scoring once and adding two assists.
Toronto Maple Leafs Make Training Camp Cuts - Put Player on Waivers
In addition to Abruzzese, the Toronto Maple Leafs also cut the following players, according to the team's PR Twitter account.
The Leafs cut the following forwards: Matthew Barbolini, Jacob Frasca, Mathieu Gosselin, Braeden Kressler, Brandon Lisowsky, Robert Mastrosimone, Marko Sikic, Zack Solow, Sam Stevens and Ty Voit.
They then also cut the following defenseman: Matt Anderson, Jacob Bengtsson, Ryan McCleary, Tommy Miller, Rhett Parsons, Chas Sharpe and William Villeneuve.
Finally, the Leafs also cut Goaltenders: Jon Gillies, Dennis Hildeby and Vyacheslac Peksa.
The Leafs most likely want to use the last two pre-season games to make the final decisions on playesr like Easton Cowan (who should be on the team regardless of anything that happened in camp, even though he's been pretty great when not paired with noted boat-anchor Ryan Reaves) so even though it might have been cool to see Villeneuve or Voit in one of this weekend's games, they have no shot at making the team, so they won't be playing.
Really, there are no surprises with any of these cuts, and all of these players will have to take a major leap forward this year with the Marlies if they want a shot at being on next year's team.
Conceivably, one or two of them could get the call (especially Abruzzese, should he clear waivers) later in the year in case of injuries, but even then, it's unlikely because there's still quite a few players left to cut.
As mentioned, the Leafs will take on the Detroit Redwings tonight and then against once more before the season gets underway.