The Leafs open training camp today, but a couple of players won’t be there due to injury:
This could leave a couple of spots open on the roster come opening night. Presumably for hopefuls and/or players that have been signed to PTOs (Zach-Aston Reese, Nick Robertson etc) to crack the opening day lineup.
It could also open enough cap room to further push back the need to trade a player off the active roster to make room for the teams latest hold-out, Rasmus Sandin, to be signed before the season begins.
Some numbers have begun to circulate about the contract negotiations:
Further to that, there are other rumours that this could be settled with a 1 year “show me” deal, for just below what Timothy Liljegren ($1.4M) signed for. We’ll wait to see how things unravel, but I’m sure the team would prefer that this situation gets settled sooner, rather than later.
There were a few retirements around the NHL yesterday:
One stat that was both embarrassing and surprising, is that Zdeno Chara was the last active NHLer that lost to the Maple Leafs in the playoffs. That’s correct, there isn’t a single player left in the NHL that knows what it’s like to lose to the Leafs in the post season. I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but it does and it’s adds to my lack of interest in this team’s regular season antics.
Last, but certainly not least, is the re-signing of Colorado Avalanche forward, Nathan MacKinnon, who is set to become the highest paid player in the NHL next summer:
Of course, the first question on Leafs Nation’s collective mind is “how does this affect the Leafs?” and, more pointedly, “how does this affect Auston Matthews’ next contract?” and that answer is simple….. He’s going to get paid!! Like, A LOT!!
My early guess is that, two offseasons from now, we’ll be talking about Auston’s $15M caphit and wondering how this will hamper the teams ability to fill out the rest of the roster.
If only we could say they won, as the Avalanche did, before the stars cashed in big.
Either way, heres hoping that we haven’t seen the best from this team.