An updated look at what the Leafs' finalized 2022-23 roster might look like
The Leafs made several noteworthy moves on Sunday, including placing Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford, Adam Gaudette and Victor Mete on waivers, which indicates that Nick Robertson, Denis Malgin and Pontus Holmberg may have, in fact, made the team. The team also announced that depth forward Zach Aston-Reese's PTO was successful, awarding him a 1-year contract, worth a little over $840,000 against the cap.
We'll know in short order whether or not anyone that the Leafs have waived will be claimed, but until that happens, all we can do is speculate. There were plenty of valuable players that hit the waiver wire on Sunday around the league, so if there was ever a time to sneak a few guys through, it was in the last 24 hours.
As for the active roster, well, that's really beginning to take shape. Nick Robertson may yet be a part of a paper transaction, sending him down to the AHL's Toronto Marlies in order to become camp compliant so that they can place Jordie Benn and Timothy Liljegren on LTIR to gain some much needed cap relief.
There is one issue with the Leafs utilizing LTIR again this season - they will not be eligible to begin accruing cap space to use at the trade deadline until they are no longer gaining cap relief from Liljegren and Benn. So, in other words, once Benn and Liljegren are healthy, the Leafs will, without a doubt, have a trade coming.
In terms of how the roster is shaping up at the moment - well, that's going to depend on John Tavares. If Tavares is indeed ready to re-join the team in time for the season opener on Wednesday in Montreal, the roster could shape up like this:
Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Robertson - Tavares - Nylander
Engvall - Kerfoot - Jarnkrok
Aston-Reese - Kampf - Aube-Kubel
Extras: Malgin, Holmberg
Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Giordano - Sandin
Murray/Samsonov
If Tavares is still dealing with the effects his strained oblique and adheres to his original recovery timeline, he could miss between 3-6 games. In that event, here's how things could end up looking:
Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Robertson - Nylander - Malgin/Holmberg
Engvall - Kerfoot - Jarnkrok
Aston-Reese - Kampf - Aube-Kubel
extra: Holmberg/Malgin
Naturally, there would be no changes to the defensive pairs, nor the goaltenders, so I won't list those here again.
The most notable change here would be Nylander shifting over to center to fill in for Tavares. This is, of course, due to comments made by Sheldon Keefe at the end of camp, when he confirmed that he will have no reservations about using Nylander at center this season if he needs to. Of course, there are a number of potential fill-in candidates for Tavares though, including Malgin, Kerfoot or Jarnkrok, all of whom can also play center.
The Leafs possess a much more versatile bottom six this season, with multiple potential move-up candidates if the injury bug bites. In addition, the team's 4th line of Aston-Reese, Kampf and Aube-Kubel should be one of the league's best 4th lines and should also be among the best shutdown lines in the league. On top of being defensively adept, they also forecheck very hard and Aube-Kubel and Aston-Reese are among the league leaders in hits/60, so they will be able to thrive playing crash and bang hockey. A nice upgrade over Simmonds and Clifford, given the fact that they excel at other areas of the game, aside from just hitting and scrapping.
We'll have more clarity by 5pm today. Buckle up, Leafs Nation! The puck drops on the team's 2022-23 schedule on Wednesday!
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 10 | 450 ANSWERS An updated look at what the Leafs' finalized 2022-23 roster might look like Is this Leafs team better than the 2021-22 team? | ||
| Without a doubt, yes | 243 | 54 % |
| No, they're worse | 48 | 10.7 % |
| They look about the same | 159 | 35.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
