Line combinations at practice show Leafs' opening night roster taking shape
The Leafs' pre-season comes to a close tonight after a predominantly rookie lineup will take to the ice in Detroit in an attempt for some young players to make one last push for a roster spot out of training camp against the Red Wings in the pre-season finale.
Meanwhile back in Toronto, the Leafs' main roster had taken to the ice for practice on Saturday morning, with the players who have guaranteed roster spots getting some reps in with one another. The roster appears to be all but set, with just 1 or 2 spots remaining available.
According to TSN's Mark Masters, the Leafs' lines at practice today were as follows:
Bertuzzi - Matthews - Marner
Domi - Tavares - Nylander
Knies - Kampf - Reaves
McMann, Slavin, Steeves, Tverberg
Rielly - Brodie
McCabe - Klingberg
Giordano - Liljegren
Pietroniro - Niemela
Samsonov
Jones
Petruzzelli
It's looking more and more like either Fraser Minten or Pontus Holmberg will be making the Leafs' opening night roster. Knies seems to be a placeholder for Noah Gregor here, with the other 2/3 of the team's third line (Jarnkrok, Minten/Holmberg) in action tonight in Detroit. If my theory is correct, the opening night roster will look something like this:
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner
Domi-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Minten-Jarnkrok
Gregor-Kampf-Reaves
Rielly-Brodie
McCabe-Klingberg
Giordano-Liljegren
Samsonov
Woll
If this is the roster that the Leafs go with for opening night, with Conor Timmins opening the season on LTIR and Sam Lafferty being traded to clear some cap space, the Leafs will have the ability to carry a 21-man roster with a little over $100K in available cap space. If they opt to go with Holmberg at 3C and send Minten back down to the WHL, they'll save an additional $45K, though it doesn't much matter since the Leafs are utilizing LTIR and cannot accrue cap space.
The roster is taking shape right before our eyes. It will be interesting to see what occurs after tonight's game in Detroit. We'll likely see the last cuts made on Sunday as the team looks to become cap compliant ahead of Wednesday's home opener against Montreal.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 7 | 81 ANSWERS Line combinations at practice show Leafs' opening night roster taking shape Do you think these are the lines that the Leafs will run to begin the season? | ||
| Yes, this is exactly what I picture as well | 29 | 35.8 % |
| No, I think the lineup will look different | 38 | 46.9 % |
| It's too tough for me to say for sure | 14 | 17.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
