Throughout the summer, Toronto Maple Leafs fans were penciling in their mock lineups with plenty of young players.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have some exciiting prospects like Easton Cowan, Fraser Minten, and Nikita Grebenkin. As of the start of the NHL season; Cowan was sent back to the OHL’s London Knights, Minten is on season opening injured reserve — likely demoted to the Marlies upon his return, and Nikita Grebenkin was sent to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies for more seasoning.
Instead of giving spots to young players, they went to late veteran signings like; Max Pacioretty, and Steven Lorentz who both attended training camp on professional tryouts (PTOs). According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, this was all by design.
On Sportsnet’s Fan Hockey Show earlier this week he said, and I'm paraphrasing, that the Leafs did this by design to get the most out of their players by forcing them to compnete.
This competitive camp pushed out young players like; Alex Steeves, Nick Abruzzese, Easton Cowan, Nikita Grebenkin, Fraser Minten, and Timothy Liljegre in favor of veteran options who will likely only be with the team for the short term.