The Toronto Maple Leafs are heading to Quebec to face the Montreal Canadiens in their third preseason game Thursday night and the roster they are bringing is full of players who could seize the opportunity that's in front of them.
Of course, the Canadiens will be dressing virtually their full NHL lineup since they want to give their fans a show. Meanwhile, head coach Craig Berube will be having a lineup that is almost full of players who aren't sure where they will be playing hockey when the regular season kicks off. The good part of it is, though, that this is the time to try and impress their coach -- to do something up against a tougher opponent on-paper to maybe prevent a demotion down to the AHL or to be placed on waivers in the coming days.
It's the time to shine.
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Centre Bell
TV: TSN2, TSN4
Projected lineups
Toronto Maple Leafs
Steven Lorentz -- Scott Laughton -- Easton Cowan
Bobby McMann -- David Kampf -- Matias Maccelli
Dakota Joshua -- Jacob Quillan -- Vinni Lettieri
Michael Pezzetta -- Benoit-Olivier Groulx -- Ryan Tverberg
Dakota Mermis -- Philippe Myers
Marshall Rifai -- Henry Thrun
Cale Webber -- Matt Benning
William Villeneuve
Dennis Hildeby
(Vladislav Peksa)
Montreal Canadiens
Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Juraj Slafkovsky
Patrik Laine -- Kirby Dach -- Ivan Demidov
Joshua Roy -- Vinzenz Rohrer --Filip Mesar
Luke Tuch -- Florian Xhekaj -- Jared Davidson
Mike Matheson -- Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle -- David Reinbacher
Ryan O'Rourke -- Nathan Clurman
Samuel Montembeault
(Jacob Fowler)
Players to watch
Easton Cowan
His name doesn't even really need to be mentioned anymore. At the start of training camp it seemed likely that Cowan was going to be sent down to the AHL's Toronto Marlies to get some more seasoning after winning the Memorial Cup with the London Knights as his last junior hockey memory. Now? Not so much.
Heading into his third consecutive preseason game, Cowan is clearly getting all the chances to pop and make this team right out of training camp at 20 years old. And with all that support, he's excelling. Doing just about everything he can do to make the team and has shown an incredible improvement just based on last year's preseason.
Now on the top line with NHL talent (it might not be the best players but it could be who he starts the Leafs season with) for a preseason game up against at least a top half of a Montreal lineup that are the top scorers on that team -- Cowan has the chance to push the envelope even further.
Matias Maccelli
Maccelli is not like Cowan. He is going to be on this Leafs roster but as he shares a line with David Kampf and Bobby McMann, it's a further opportunity to demonstrate an ability to drive a line by himself. Max Domi is already next to Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies back at practice in Toronto. We know what Domi looks like in a bottom six scoring role -- but how does Maccelli?
If Domi wins that job and is the first-line right wing, can Maccelli live being a third-line winger? Can he, hypothetically, be partnered up with the likes of Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, McMann (and so on), and still be able to contribute offensively? Hopefully we figure at least a portion of that out Thursday night.
Ivan Demidov
It's cool to see young players come into the league and do cool things. For the Montreal Canadiens? Not so much. But since it is preseason and the game doesn't matter, we possibly could enjoy a talented new rookie like Demidov -- maybe?
At least respect some of his talent before really hoping he makes a fool of himself and Michael Pezzetta sends him flying through the glass.