Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose Pre-Season Opener... Darn That 2nd Liner Mitch Marner!

[Cor]

Yup..... Maple Leafs Hockey Is Back.

The Toronto Maple Leafs begin a new journey. Gone is Tank Nation. Gone is the Tank Commander. Gone is the hope of the 1st Overall Pick. Tonight, we begin, for the first time in quite a while, we begin a season of hope. A season of progress. A season where the future arrives. Yup. The hope for losing has ended. The Maple Leafs have finally, FINALLY gotten what we all coveted. We got our franchise center. We got Auston Matthews.

Beautiful.

That's where I will leave it for now, as, it is only the pre-season, and the real fun begins on October 12th. Let's take a look at tonight's rosters.

Expected Leafs ROSTER [Lines To Be Updated When Released]





Kerby Rychel - Nazem Kadri - Connor Brown
Colin Greening - Brooks Laich - Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson - Byron Froese - Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Prust - Marc-Andre Cliche - Trevor Moore
Richard Clune

Jake Gardiner - Frank Corrado
Rinat Valiev - Raman Hrabarenka
Matt Hunwick - Andrew Nielsen
Andrew Campbell

Antoine Bibeau
Kasimir Kaskisuo​

Click to read more...

 

[iBlaze81]

damn no willie and Timashov

 

[Paradoc]

Looking forward to see how Valiev does in these exhibition. Almost every time I've watched him he's always impressed me.

 

[Battle Lin]

cant wait to see marner in action, im expecting a big jump from last camp

 

[MapleLeafs9]

NHL hockey is back boys!

 

[Canada4Gold]

Those are the lines I'm expecting too, very uncertain about the defense.

Pumped to see Brown, Marner, Johnsson and Nielsen

 

[Quiksilver*]

What's the NHL veteran minimum for NHL exhibition games again?

 

[Torontonian]

Cant wait to start cheering for wins again..

 

[SeaOfBlue]

It'll be interesting to see who will be on the next ship out of here, and whether Hrabarenka and Prust are worth AHL deals. I do hope they weed through the older AHL vets first though.

 

[DopeyFish]

damn no willie and Timashov

Nylander will probably be with Matthews on Thursday.

Since he's making the team, he'll be getting heavier exhibition time near the end than the beginning of preseason.

The NHL minimum is 8 veterans per exhibition

 

[Club]

Go LEAFS!

 

[Pyrophorus]

...and the Sens Lineup

http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Sept26_Roster%20vs.%20Toronto%20(Halifax).pdf

 

[Canada4Gold]

Looking at that Sens lineup I think we're sending the better team. I'm not sure if they have a full time every game never a healthy scratch on that roster, at least we have Bozak, and Gardiner. I think our prospects playing the game are better as well.

Of course that doesn't mean much when the game starts. Not like the result of the game matters anyway but it would be nice to win

 

[Pyrophorus]

The pre-season is never about your opposition, its about you.

Both teams want to see who they have and can do what.
Boucher wants to see what he has in his bubble players

We need to see how the kids fare, and can they actually help us.

 

[cookie]

I wanna see how Rychel does but am afraid that the goaltending will overshadow his play. Hope Bibeau plays well.

 

[bluumax]

Excited to see our kids. interested to see Logan Brown.

 

[ConnorTO]

omg mark andre FLURY IS WITH THE LEAFS

 

[Warden of the North]

Yesssssss

 

[Warden of the North]

Curious to see Rychel

 

[SprDaVE]

Andreas Johnsson - Byron Froese - Kasperi Kapanen could very well likely be our top line on the Marlies.

Should be a fun game. I hope Marner can continue his impressive play through the rookie tournament and scrimmages. All though I'm not sure I like him to be paired with stone hands Laich, at least he's paired with NHLers.

 

[Rogie]

Nice opener COR.

Just the right amount of hype for an opening exh game.

Nice little bit of poetry as well - got to thinking of Vinny Scully for a moment - I digress.

 

[pheasant]

...and the Sens Lineup

http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/Sept26_Roster%20vs.%20Toronto%20(Halifax).pdf

Interesting to see Casey Bailey's name again. I always thought he could crack the NHL, but he was not in a position to succeed in Toronto. Small fish in a pond FULL of fish.

But the guy has a legit NHL quality shot, and could handle the physical game well enough. If he could skate better he would be in the NHL already, IMO. Should have a decent chance to have a career in the Sens system.

 

[TheRexman]

I'm watching this one live. So pumped!!!!
This should be like a home game for the Leafs.

 

[Hoverhand]

Johnsson-Froese-Kapanen is the one I'm really interested in seeing.

 

[Bullseye]

Interesting to see Casey Bailey's name again. I always thought he could crack the NHL, but he was not in a position to succeed in Toronto. Small fish in a pond FULL of fish.

But the guy has a legit NHL quality shot, and could handle the physical game well enough. If he could skate better he would be in the NHL already, IMO. Should have a decent chance to have a career in the Sens system.

Skating. Always an issue marginally skilled guys. Connor Brown said in his interview that with even all his offensive skill he's going to be relied upon to skate hard in a back-checking role. Bailey will likely never be able to keep up.