Graduating Vees goalie gets invite to Leafs camp
Graduating Penticton Vees goaltender Mat Robson earned an invite to the Toronto Maple Leafs annual development camp.
The camp opens on Thursday with medicals, while on-ice practice sessions will begin on Friday at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence.
Robson, 21, is coming off a terrific season with the Vees, posting 35 regular-season wins with a 1.94 goals-against average, .930 save percentage and six shutouts as Penticton won its sixth straight Interior Division pennant.
Robson suited up for all 31 playoff games as Penticton won the B.C. Hockey League playoff title and went all the way to the semifinal game at the RBC Cup national championship in Cobourg, Ont.
It will be a homecoming for the native of Toronto, Ont., who is bound for the University of Minnesota on a scholarship starting this fall.
A total of 57 players (31 forwards, 20 defencemen and six goaltenders) are slated to take part in this year’s development camp, including 21 Maple Leafs draft picks. Six of the Leafs’ seven selections in the 2017 NHL Draft, including 17th overall pick Timothy Liljegren, will attend.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild re-signed former Vees star defenceman Mike Reilly to a two-year contract worth $1.45 million.
Reilly was a member of the Vees generational team in 2011-12 that rewrote the record book and won Penticton’s second RBC Cup — and first since the then-Penticton Knights won in 1986.
Reilly appeared in 17 games this past season, his second in the NHL, scoring one goal. The 23-year-old joined the Wild as a free agent in 2015 after failing to sign a contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who drafted the Chicago native in the fourth round (98th overall) in 2011. Reilly had five goals and 30 points in 57 AHL games this past season.
Leafs sign Marleau for 3 years
The Maple Leafs showed they were serious about Stanley Cup contention right now in poaching Patrick Marleau from the San Jose Sharks.
Marleau joined the Leafs on a three-year deal Sunday night, ending a 20-year tenure with the Sharks, who drafted him second overall in 1997. The 37-year-old instantly beefs up a rising Toronto squad that nearly toppled the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in the playoffs last April and one that evidently believes it’s ready to contend for the Stanley Cup as soon as the coming season.
Signing Marleau — alongside subtler roster upgrades on July 1 — makes that clear.
“It was the team, I think,” Marleau said of picking the Leafs in free agency. “The excitement that’s around it, the youth, the coaching staff, the coach, the management, the way they see the game going, the players that they have on their roster. It’s extremely exciting to be a part of that.”
The Leafs are trying to snatch the last bit of good from his Hall of Fame-worthy career while injecting veteran stability and versatility into an lineup that’s mostly populated by youth. The club also has a limited window for making such a move with young stars Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner all still on entry-level contracts.
“We won’t be able to do this in a year or so, but we have the room and flexibility to do it (now) and not interrupt the process that we have in place, understanding where our young players are and where they will be,” Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello said in a statement released by the team.
Marleau, who turns 38 in September and carries a (somewhat risky) US$6.25 million annual cap hit, showed he still had something left last year, scoring 27 goals and 19 assists in 82 games.