Steven Lorentz is listed as a day-to-day with an upper body injury and did not skate during Friday’s practice sessions, the Maple Leafs confirmed Friday.
Lorentz is at camp on a professional tryout invite, where he has been granted a real shot at making the Maple Leafs’ roster, coming off a Stanley Cup victory with the Florida Panthers last season.
The 28-year-old recorded one goal and three points in 38 regular season contests, before adding two goals and three points in 16 playoff games during the Panthers’ title run.
“Lorentz is a guy who filled in a role last year for Florida. He has size, speed, and strength. He did a good job for them in the playoffs last year penalty killing,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said of Lorentz after Thursday’s second group session ended.
Lorentz is from Kitchener, Ontario and is one of several players at camp who grew up idolizing the Maple Leafs.
“Being a Toronto Maple Leaf is something I’ve always wanted to be since I was a little kid,” Lorentz said Monday on TSN 1050’s First Up. “For an opportunity like this to come up, I just thought, this is a group that I thought I could come in and use what I learned last year in winning with Florida to hopefully bring that knowledge and experience to a team like Toronto. I think it could be a good fit pending all goes well.”
Roni Hirvonen played on a line with David Kampf and Ryan Reaves — potentially in Lorentz’s place, while Kampf and Reaves are fixtures on the fourth line.
In other news, Maple Leafs’ 2024 first-round pick Ben Danford spoke with Jake Muzzin and was seen skating by himself. Danford suffered a concussion during a practice session ahead of the rookie tournament last week.
