Leafs wield axe to pare back roster
The Toronto Maple Leafs made a number of cuts Sunday, but are saving their hardest decisions for another day or so.
They sent 13 players to their American Hockey League farm team, none of them surprise moves, but remain three over the 23-man roster limit, which must be submitted to the NHL by 5
p.m. ET on Tuesday. Toronto’s first regular season game is Wednesday night at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
Still with the club are centre Frederik Gauthier and defencemen Justin Holl, Connor Carrick and Martin Marincin, the latter three not expected to make the top six blueliners. Toronto also has four goalies at the moment, with the projected Marlie pairing of Garret Sparks and Calvin Pickard remaining amid speculation whether the team will risk putting
AHL goalie of the year Sparks on waivers after some hiccups in pre-season games.
It remains unclear if coach Mike Babcock will carry two extra defencemen or one extra forward when the season starts. Carrick appears to have been beaten out for a spot by incoming Russian Igor Ozhiganov, currently paired with Travis Dermott.
Gauthier and Marincin will allow practice numbers to be kept up on Monday and Tuesday morning, while general manager Kyle Dubas
has yet to work out a new contract with absent winger William Nylander.
There are 13 forwards, nine defencemen and four goaltenders now in Leaf camp after Sunday’s moves. Sent to the Marlies were defencemen
Andreas Borgman, Timothy Liljegren and Calle Rosen, forwards Jeremy Bracco, Adam Brooks, Emerson Clark, Rich Clune, Pierre Engvall, Colin Greening, Carl Grundstrom, Mason Marchment, Trevor Moore and Dmytro Timashov.
Placed on waivers Sunday were forwards Adam Cracknell, Josh Jooris, Chris Mueller and defencemen Vincent LoVerde and Jordan Subban.
Also on Sunday, the Marlies made room, re-assigning 11 players from their roster to their ECHL affiliate, the Newfoundland Growlers. Defencemen Sean Durzi and Mac Hollowell were returned to their OHL teams.