It seemed inevitable that cuts were coming today. AHL training camps have been opening today, and with the Marlies in a preseason game on October 7th, it seems likely they’ll want some players to be available to play in that. In that spirit, the Leafs made 10 less than astonishing cuts today.
We have assigned the following players to the @TorontoMarlies (AHL):
F Joseph Blandisi
F Curtis Douglas
F Max Ellis
F Pavel Gogolev
D Matt Hellickson
D Noel Hoefenmayer
D Tommy Miller
D Matteo Pietroniro
F Logan Shaw
F Graham Slaggert— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 3, 2022
Considering that six of those players could be fighting for AHL jobs and are very possibly ECHL bound, these cuts make absolute sense. The names that stand out as surprising are Curtis Douglas, whom many thought would push for a more truculent 4C role on the Leafs, but might have his skating holding him back from an NHL job.
Max Ellis is one of the only two other players that has an SPC with the Leafs on this list (the other is Gogolev) and while he showed a lot of great energy in the Prospect Tournament, he was less noticeable in the Leafs camp and was always going to end up with the Marlies unless he put on a truly remarkable showing.
Joseph Blandisi, Graham Slaggert, and Logan Shaw all had positive showings as well, but with their AHL contract situation and a short cut list, it’s not surprising the Leafs went the route they did.
Some of the potential cut-ees that stuck around that are worth noting are Marshall Rafai, Mac Hollowell, and William Villeneuve. Rafai and Villeneuve in particular have had strong camps, and the Leafs are clearly wanting to keep some defensive options around. I suppose you could lump Mikko Kokkonen into that group as well as he seemed like a possible cut option, and of the forwards, it’s Semyon Der-Arguchintsev who might be the biggest surprise for still being with the Leafs.
The final thing of interest is the language that the Leafs used as they mention that these are the players they’ve assigned to the Marlies. There still could be further movement on its way, but it might require waivers. With waivers still being about 20 minutes out from the time of this being published, we’ll have to see if Toronto has any further movement planned.
More from TheLeafsNation.com
