Maple Leafs Make 15 Roster Cuts as Season Opener Looms
The Toronto Maple Leafs made a large amount of roster cuts on Friday as they narrowed down their roster before opening night against the Montreal Canadiens.
With the regular season only five days away, the Toronto Maple Leafs are getting the best team possible together to start the season hot as they look to end their 56-year Stanley Cup drought. GM Brad Treliving brought a bunch of new faces on board, including a new head coach, and it'll be an interesting look at a revamped Maple Leafs roster come October 9th.
So the narrowing of the roster means reassignments for several players, and their fates were learned this afternoon as the Toronto Maple Leafs announced the following roster cuts to be demoted to the AHL per the team's official PR account on X:
This also comes with the news that the team placed forward Alex Steeves on waivers for the purpose of reassignment; Steeves re-signed with the team on a one-year deal this summer.
It also spells the end of the road (at least temporarily) for Nikita Grebenkin, a Maple Leafs prospect who quickly became a fan favorite after his performance during the Prospect Showcase as well as in his preseason game against Ottawa. Leafs fans were upset to see him go, but acknowledged it won't be long until he's back with the club:
The Maple Leafs aren't done yet, as Kyle Cushman; analyst and writer for TheScore noted. The team still has 29 players and needs to cut that down to 22 by Wednesday, and they have a few tough choices to make:
Cushman also notes the players in white are players who would need to pass through waivers beforehand, so names like Connor Dewar, Matt Murray, Philippe Myers, and Timothy Liljegren would need to pass through and not be claimed before being reassigned. It wouldn't be a huge deal but losing Liljegren or Dewar for nothing has to sting a bit, even if Toronto wanted to get rid of them they would at least like a return.
There are still a lot of questions surrounding what the Maple Leafs squad is going to look like come opening night vs. Montreal, but we're getting one step closer and the anticipation grows.
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