Some Initial Leafs Training Camp Observations
Training camps are under way across the National Hockey League this week, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are no exception, appearing in various capacities yesterday and taking to the ice for the first time in a formal capacity this morning. Those first couple of days are ripe for jumping to early conclusions, and while I like to consider myself pretty tempered and rational, I’m not beneath getting some early-season thought rushes of my own. So let’s touch on a few things briefly here:
- The first noteworthy bit of news we got yesterday was that Max Domi failed his physical and will be out indefinitely. This isn’t a huge shock to many, but it’s still a confirmation all the same of what we already know. Domi had complications following a back surgery earlier this year and there are significant questions about whether he’ll be able to play in the NHL again, with initial concerns prioritizing his day-to-day wellbeing over his hockey future. As of right now, I wouldn’t bet too heavily on seeing him back this season. From a salary cap perspective, Toronto isn’t really in a rush to make that declaration, as his salary lands just below the league average in 2025/26 – in other words, they can use regular LTIR to maximize the tag-down on his contract without having to declare Season Ending LTIR (SELTIR) right away.
- On a more positive note, Chris Tanev has been cleared to play and is “as healthy as anybody”, according to Leafs GM John Chayka. This has the potential to be a big boost to the Toronto blue line, as Tanev’s 71 games missed last season were definitely felt. I would proceed cautiously in believing they’ll get the same impact player they had in 2024/25, between the trickle-down effect of injuries, the fact that Tanev is soon to turn 37, and the low odds of repeating his 2024/25 PDO of 103.7, but even a replacement-level player with a positive room presence would be a nice addition back to to the team.
- Auston Matthews is back and healthy. Definitely. Maybe? The claim is that he’s healthy, but we’ve heard and seen conflicting things in recent years, watching the team captain and superstar look like he’s playing through things that some may have preferred he rested. We do know that he’s recovered from the knee surgery that he underwent after Radko Gudas’ hit last year.
- Matthews also spoke to media about his excitement heading into this season and about how he always wanted to be here this year, a pseudo-response to speculation about his future here over the summer. I still believe that some of those reports of uncertainty were purposeful on his end to keep the team earnest in its pursuit of improvement, but I don’t doubt that when push came to shove, his eyes were here.
| Leafs Group A | Leafs Group B |
|---|---|
| #15 Colton Sissons #18 Steven Lorentz #20 Nick Paul #23 Matthew Knies #24 Brandon Duhaime #34 Auston Matthews #53 Easton Cowan #73 Teddy Blueger #81 Dakota Joshua #88 William Nylander #91 John Tavares #92 Gavin McKenna #96 Jack Roslovic | #19 Zack MacEwen #26 Jacob Quillan #29 Bo Groulx #33 Tinus Luc Koblar #37 Luke Haymes #42 Landon Sim #54 Hernik Rybnski #57 Marc Johnstone #61 Michael Pezzetta #71 Vinni Lettieri #77 Ryan Tverberg #90 Brendan Brisson |
| #3 Nick Blankenburg #8 Chris Tanev #22 Jake McCabe #28 Troy Stecher #38 Ben Danford #43 Darren Raddysh #55 Emil Andrae #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson | #25 Vinny Borgesi #36 Dakota Mermis #46 Alexander Bilecki #51 Philippe Myers #58 Noah Chadwick #59 Blake Smith #82 Cole McWard #83 Marshall Rifai |
| #41 Anthony Stolarz #72 Sergei Bobrovsky | #31 Samuel Hlavaj #70 Artur Akthyamov |
- Toronto’s first skates were this morning and if you looked at the two training camp groups, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a split more obvious in its ambitions. If you thought there was any serious possibility for roster spot battles, they go away pretty quickly here. This is about as close as you can get to the projected Maple Leafs and Marlies rosters as you can get (as a side note – until laid out like this, I didn’t notice that players signed to NHL deals had jersey numbers exclusive to them at both levels).
- A noteworthy exception to the A-B placement, at least in terms of projection, is Ben Danford, who is with the A squad to start. I wonder if that’s just an opportunity to balance the two sides out while Morgan Rielly recovers from illness, or simply to give a first rounder a taste with the big group. I ultimately think he’ll be in the AHL for the bulk of this year, but stranger things have happened.
- Today’s skates also came with our first look at potential lines for this season, and from the looks of it, Gavin McKenna will get his first look with John Tavares and William Nylander. I don’t think this was universally ruled out, though it seemed like the most popular guesses were that he’d go straight to playing with Auston Matthews, or be sheltered in a third-line role. Playing him with Tavares and Nylander gives him offensive weapons to learn from and get the puck to, though I do wonder about that line’s defensive capability a bit.
- Easton Cowan got a lot of praise from Jim Hiller after today’s skate, particularly for his work as a “puck hound”. I’m not super shocked that he’d be Hiller’s pick for a standout player today, as he already has familiarity with many of Toronto’s stars from his previous tenure here. He seems to have identified Cowan as more of a driving option for the third line than a contender to ride flank in the top six, and I’ve got time for that. One area where I thought his Calder Cup run would be valuable was in building up his confidence to make his own offensive plays, and it’s possible that he could do that on a line with Nick Paul and whoever else (currently Colton Sissons).
- Every team is required to have a designated Emergency Backup Goaltender (EBUG) this year, and Toronto’s will be Brandon Bonello, as shown by him wearing 00 in today’s skates. Bonello is familiar to the organization, filling in as a practice goalie in the past and EBUG’ing for the Marlies. Bonello was a highly touted goalie in his minor hockey career and played 97 games in the OHL for Saginaw and Kingston. My own experience seeing him mostly comes from overage year, where he dropped down to the OJHL’s Pickering Panthers and dominated, leading the league in save percentage before COVID-19 ended the season following the first round of the playoffs.
- While everyone was doing their thing at Ford Performance Centre today, the Leafs were busy making a change at Scotiabank Arena. Specifically, it was ice-painting day, and they’re using a different version of the Leafs logo this year. More specifically, it’s logo they used from 1927-1930. No, we’re not getting a rebranding, but with the team already using their centennial on the franchise’s total history ten years ago, giving a nod to their first year specifically as the Toronto Maple Leafs is a good way to double-dip. Don’t be surprised if we see a few other integrations throughout the year.
One More Thing
Lastly, this isn’t a training camp-specific note, but I missed the boat on touching on the broadcast changes that were announced earlier this week, so I’ll use a couple of paragraphs here.
Todd Crocker was chosen for the tough task of filling Joe Bowen’s shoes as the Leafs play-by-play commentator on the radio, and I’m a huge fan of that decision. Crocker was the Marlies’ play-by-play voice for the last thirteen years, along with many other facets of their multimedia production, and anyone who has spent time watching their games likely associates him with the team in a way similar to the Leafs’ association to Bowen’s. His creativity, work ethic, and friendliness are all world-class and while those hearing him for the first time might need a couple of laps to get used to his style, you’ll almost definitely come to be a fan as well.
The succession plan with the Marlies interests me just as much, however. Joe’s son David, who has been working play-by-play for the Sudbury Wolves for the past five years, will be the primary replacement, while joined by Matt Cullen and Blue Jays broadcaster Ben Shulman.
What kind of slipped under the radar in the press release was the “at Coca-Cola Coliseum” sentence, which confirms that Toronto won’t be sending a commentator on the road, presumably relying on the opponent’s home streams on FloHockey. That’s a bit of a shame on multiple levels. For one, with the right personality (which they had in Crocker this past decade and change), road commentary can arguably be even more entertaining than home commentary. Secondly, I’m very curious to see what impact this makes for things like pre- and post-game interviews on the road, which at the minor league level are usually spearheaded in-house.
Obviously, media environments and interest in certain content formats continue to evolve, but I’m very curious about how that whole transition shakes out.
