Leafs only invite 40 players to camp
The Toronto Maple Leafs are making training camp leaner and, they hope, meaner in this COVID-19 clouded NHL season.
The club named a roster of 23 forwards, 13 defencemen and four goaltenders on Sunday ahead of the completion of team medicals and a virtual media conference with GM Kyle Dubas, coach Sheldon Keefe and the team captains.
Usually the Leafs invite in the neighbourhood of 70 to 80 players, but with a reduced 56-game schedule and their farm team Marlies on hiatus until at least early February, this smaller assembly will contend for 23 spots on the main roster and a four- to six-man taxi squad.
The selection of the latter group will be vital as the Leafs move a body or two on and off the main roster during the season to stay within the US$81.5 million salary cap they currently exceed.
New forwards Wayne Simmonds (wearing No. 24), Joe Thornton (97), Alexander Barabanov (94), Jimmy Vesey (26) and Joey Anderson (28) join new backliners TJ Brodie (78), Zach Bogosian (22) and Mikko Lehtonen (46).
Five players are gone from last year: forwards Kasperi Kapanen, Kyle Clifford, Andreas Johnsson, Frederik Gauthier and defenceman Tyson Barrie.
Simmonds, Thornton, Brodie and Bogosian are being counted on to lift the Leafs' physical game and join Jason Spezza as veteran presences in the dressing room.
Lehtonen and Barabanov are attempting to make the team right from the KHL, while young 2019 draft pick Nick Robertson hopes to capitalize on his playoff appearances last summer.
Among the projected Marlies trying to grab a taxi spot are forwards Adam Brooks, Justin Brazeau and Scott Sabourin.
In addition to incumbent goalies Frederik Andersen and Jack Campbell, Michael Hutchinson and newcomer Aaron Dell will look to impress in net.
The Leafs begin practice in two groups on Monday at the Ford Performance Centre in Toronto (several players have been in voluntary workouts there for months already). The club opens Jan. 13 at Scotiabank Arena against the Montreal Canadiens.
There are no exhibition games to help determine the final roster, unless the team organizes one in-house.