The Leafs are on mini-vacay to Gravenhurst but not everyone made the trip…
With #Leafs practice about to get underway in Gravenhurst, Ont. The following players have stayed back in Toronto to work with development staff:
Mikko Kokkonen
SDA
Bobby McMann
Joey Anderson
Nick Abruzzese
Marshall Rifai
Mac Hollowell
Dylan Ferguson
— David Alter (@dalter) October 5, 2022
So they haven’t found their way down to the Marlies officially just yet, but that’s not an overly surprising round of the next Leafs to depart. Kokkonen, Der-Arguchintsev, and McMann are all waivers exempt and will be easy enough to reassign.
Marshall Rifai is the last of the AHL contract players lingering around, so his assignment also makes sense.
Hollowell and Anderson are the more complicated players to re-assign as they will both require waivers, and in Joey Anderson’s case, there is some potential he could be claimed. At this point it might be better for the Leafs if Anderson actually gets claimed as the Leafs could use another standard player contract.
Finally, there’s Dylan Ferguson. Ferguson is on a PTO, and while it’s likely he’ll sign a fresh tryout agreement with the Marlies, this will be an outright release from the Leafs.
As for who is sticking around…
The Leafs are down to their last few decisions with 26 healthy players remaining.
We can boldly predict that Erik Kallgren is the goaltender on his way out. Kral, Holmberg, and Steeves are the other easy waivers exempt departures. That leaves Nick Robertson as the possible other easy demotion as he too is waivers exempt, but he has arguably put himself ahead of Gaudette, Clifford, and Simmonds for a roster spot, If Engvall is healthy enough to make the opening night roster.
First time we’ve seen the grey jersey come out for practice,typifying extra.
The players wearing them: Clifford, Steeves, Simmonds, Holmberg and Gaudette.
— David Alter (@dalter) October 5, 2022
Update: Looks like grey equals non-roster.
We’ll see how much of this the Leafs make official today. What’s more likely they will try to enjoy their time away from the Scotiabank Arena and dodge the bad vibes of cuts and waivers today.
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