Leafs see bright future for prospects ... in minors

Club sticks to go-slow approach with final cuts

Despite flashes of brilliance from top prospects William Nylander and Connor Brown, the Maple Leafs’ young guns were sent down to Toronto’s American Hockey League affiliate on Sunday, the expected end to their first camp in the Mike Babcock/Lou Lamoriello era.

The Maple Leafs cut 16 players in all and are now down to 24 players on the active roster heading into Wednesday’s season opener against Montreal. Eight pre-season games were not enough for management to write off any veteran players. And the stated plan has been to give the younger players time to develop as individuals and together in the minors.

“There’s an extremely bright future for them,” Lamoriello, the Leafs general manager, said on a conference call with reporters. “But this is the right decision right now to make sure that we see exactly who we have here of the veterans and what they bring.”

Babcock said he intentionally played the veterans in more games than typical as a means to become familiar with them. Case in point, defenceman Jake Gardiner suited up for six out of a possible eight pre-season games.

The roster currently consists of 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders. Although the veterans understood they were auditioning for the new management regime, Lamoriello acknowledged that veterans can have a tendency to find another level when the games become meaningful.

“I think we’ll find exactly where everyone is at very quickly this week,” Lamoriello said. “But we were very pleased with the last couple of games as far as the effort was put into a lot of areas.”

Joining Nylander and Brown with the Marlies are forwards are Kasperi Kapanen, Nikita Soshnikov, Rich Clune and Zach Hyman; defencemen Viktor Loov, Stuart Percy and Rinat Valiev; and goaltenders Antoine Bibeau and Garret Sparks.

Five players were placed on waivers so that they could be sent to the Marlies: defenceman T.J. Brennan and Andrew Campbell, and forwards Sam Carrick, Matt Frattin and Byron Froese. Defenceman Petter Granberg was placed on the injured, non-roster list while he recovers from a torn Achilles suffered in off-season training.

With 24 players on the roster, one more decision still has to be made. NHL teams are required to reduce their active roster to 23 by Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET.

The decision could come on the defensive side. Stéphane Robidas, at age 38, has had a less than stellar camp, and appears to have been bumped aside by 22-year-old Scott Harrington, who came from Pittsburgh in the Phil Kessel deal, and 23-year-old Martin Marincin, who was acquired from Edmonton. Robidas, though, has two years left on the three-year deal he signed with the Leafs in July 2014.

“They’ve impressed our coaching staff and they deserve the opportunity they’re getting,” Lamoriello said of the young defencemen. “We’ll just have to see what the final decision is.”

There are questions as to who will start on opening night.

Despite some better statistical performances from James Reimer, it’s hard to envision any scenario where incumbent starter Jonathan Bernier isn’t between the pipes on Wednesday night.

The defence has a bit of a clearer picture. Matt Hunwick and Dion Phaneuf are the likely top-pairing on defence. Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner will also be in that mix, although they will be split up. Their likely partners will be Martin Marincin, Scott Harrington or Roman Polak.

Up front, the question remains who will be the No. 1 centre.

Nazem Kadri will likely get a chance to play with James van Riemsdyk and Brad Boyes. P.A. Parenteau could occupy right wing spot with Tyler Bozak and Shawn Matthias. It’s not clear which would be considered the No. 1 line, if that even matters. With 14 forwards remaining, it’s also unclear how the bottom six will shake out. If the cut to get to 23 comes from the forwards, a player like Mark Arcobello could be on the outside.

This week’s practices will give a better indication of who is finding chemistry with whom and which combinations the coaching staff likes.