Toronto made its first cut on Tuesday returning Noah Chadwick to the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Toronto made its first cut on Tuesday returning Noah Chadwick to the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Easton Cowan remains with the Maple Leafs' main group after leaving a positive first impression on head coach Sheldon Keefe.
The team shuffled the groups on Tuesday following a preseason back-to-back against the Ottawa Senators. It looks like one group is Toronto's top players while the other is a secondary group.
As previously stated, Cowan remains in the Maple Leafs' main group after a strong showing inside Scotiabank Arena on Monday. Also in the group are players like Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson and William Lagesson.
"Every time he went out there, he's making something happen," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said with praise of Cowan on Monday night. "I got sick of talking myself out of it and just started playing him more in the third (period) and he was great."
One player who isn't in either of the two groups is forward Calle Jarnkrok. The 32-year-old did appear in skates last week but hasn't played a preseason game yet for Toronto.
It appears as though Jarnkrok is dealing with an injury that came up in practice a few days ago and is listed as day-to-day, per Keefe.
Bobby McMann was part of the Maple Leafs' secondary group of players on Tuesday. It's his first skate in the featured groups since it was said that he's still nursing an injury that he suffered last season.
It looks as though the first set of players offered up a glimpse of what the Marlies lineup could look like when the season begins in a couple of weeks.
This group of players includes Alex Steeves, Nick Abruzzese, Dylan Gambrell, Max Lajoie, and Martin Jones, who are all likely bubble players for Toronto this season.
Also skating with the secondary group is Fraser Minten, a prospect who showed promise in Traverse City and in his preseason game but will soon be off to the WHL's Kamloops Blazers.
The main group looked to have had some legitimate lines that we could see in the regular season.
As we've seen in previous days, Tyler Bertuzzi is skating alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. The second line consists of Matthew Knies, John Tavares, and Sam Lafferty.
The bottom six includes a trio of Max Domi, William Nylander, and Nick Robertson. Plus, a fourth line of Noah Gregor (who's on a PTO), David Kampf, and Ryan Reaves.
Toronto's defense remains as it looked in the early days of training camp with Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren reuniting on the third pairing.
More to come as the day develops.
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