In what has been a rare occurrence for the Leafs, today they were adding players to camp rather than subtracting them.
Enter Sandman
Newly-signed Rasmus Sandin set for his first practice of Leafs camp pic.twitter.com/bMpMNbNOeh
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 2, 2022
Pierre Engvall is taking part in his first practice with the Leafs since his ankle/foot injury. He’s in the Group 2 session. pic.twitter.com/oaQWlkJj6Q
— David Alter (@dalter) October 2, 2022
The returns of Sandin and Engvall are huge steps forward for the Leafs, and while Engvall still has work to do with putting pressure on his wonky ankle, and Sandin is likely going to receive a crash course in right side defense, having the two players involved in the camp is a sigh of relief for Leafs fans.
Sandin apparently spent his recent time off picking foraging for mushrooms in what was likely a ploy to show the Leafs that he couldn’t afford groceries.
I kid. Sandin had no trouble finding food this summer:
Rasmus Sandin says he went from 178 pounds to 194. Give or take.
— David Alter (@dalter) October 2, 2022
Of course it’s not the Leafs preseason if someone of importance doesn’t go missing and today that person was Calle Jarnkrok
Sheldon Keefe says Calle Jarnkrok missed practice today because he wasn’t feeling well.
— David Alter (@dalter) October 2, 2022
Hopefully he drinks some orange juice and chugs a bottle of Imodium and will be back soon.
The Lines
We’ll start with group two because it seems like Group 2 isn’t long for this camp
Engvall – Kampf – Anderson
McMann – SDA – Steeves
Clifford – Shaw – Simmonds
Abruzzese – Douglas – Ellis
Slaggert, Blandisi
Kokkonen – Hollowell
Rifai – Villeneuve
Pietroniro – Hoefenmayer
Hellickson – Miller
Kallgren
Ferguson
via Mark Masters
The main takeaway here is Engvall getting in reps with Kampf, which obviously makes a lot of sense. Putting Joey Anderson with them is likely part of the Leafs giving every chance to $750k players a chance to make the opening night roster because they definitely need the cost efficiency in the line up.
Steeves, Abruzzese, and Simmonds will likely be the forwards to watch in the final days of competition as the bottom part of the roster gets sorted out, but in reality Steeves and Abruzzese not requiring waivers means their fate is likely sealed, no matter how strong Steeves has looked.
Lines at Leafs practice
Bunting – Matthews – Marner
Robertson – Kerfoot – Nylander
Aston-Reese – Holmberg – Aube-Kubel
Gogolev – Gaudette – MalginRielly – Brodie
Muzzin – Sandin
Giordano – Holl
Kral – MeteMurray
Samsonov @TSN_Edge— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 2, 2022
These lines make a lot of sense when you figure Gogolev was probably the first guy to pick up his phone when the Leafs were calling around about Jarnkrok being sick.
The rest of the top three lines look like very usable NHL lines (presumably Holmberg is filling in for Jarnkrok and Gogolev got Holmberg’s spot.)
The defensive pairings and goaltending tandem are pretty much how the season is going to open, and there’s not much more to it than that.
Our roster for tomorrow’s preseason game vs. Montreal 👇 pic.twitter.com/zd51bYDacl
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 2, 2022
For tomorrow’s game Kampf, Jarnkrok, Engvall, Sandin, and Muzzin will sit, so presumably we see Giordano with Holl, and the Kral-Mete pairing remain intact. Gogolev gets dropped in favour of Abruzzese and Steeves taking reps on the fourth line.
Presumably since most other teams are cutting their rosters down below 30 players, and the Leafs are icing a very close to NHL ready lineup on Monday night, we can assume that either later tonight or early tomorrow will be when we see a significant amount of cuts in advance of the opening of the Marlies training camp.
We might even see the Leafs put some of their players on waivers, something we are yet to see from them so far this camp.
Tomorrow’s game will be at 7pm against the Habs (again) and can be seen on TSN 4.
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