Defencemen Morgan Rielly was one of two players under 23 years old to stay with the Maple Leafs following Sunday’s roster moves.Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
Youth was not served on Sunday afternoon.
Youth was demoted.
The Toronto Maple Leafs finally made the bulk of their roster cuts on the weekend – sending 16 players either to waivers or the minors – and the targets were almost entirely from one age group.
They kept their 11 oldest players, who are all 28-years-plus. They cut 10 of the 12 youngest, with defencemen Morgan Rielly and Scott Harrington the only players under 23 years old to stay put.
And with one cut left to go to get under the NHL's 23-man limit by Tuesday afternoon, Harrington – one of the prospects the Leafs acquired in the Phil Kessel trade with Pittsburgh – could yet still get his ticket to the Toronto Marlies.
But that isn't an indictment of the Leafs prospect pool.
It's actually to protect them. And to give the many veterans a shot to impress coach Mike Babcock and/or improve their stock league-wide.
"The first thing for us is to see where our veterans are at and what type of team we have," Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello said. "How they respond to Mike."
A few of the prospects sent down Sunday were the Leafs' better players in preseason. Connor Brown, in particular, was a standout, and led all players who played three or more games in possession metrics.
Defenceman Stuart Percy and 2014 first-rounder William Nylander also turned heads at various points.
From the beginning, however, this Leafs camp wasn't really about young players beating out veterans for roster spots. Management didn't ever intend to waive a bunch of useful NHL players in early October, not when they can potentially be moved down the road for assets.
Instead, they're going to see what Babcock can do with this group, which is essentially last year's team minus Phil Kessel and Cody Franson and a half-dozen new faces filling in on short-term deals.
If the Leafs fall flat right away and start piling up losses, the great unloading can begin early, and young players will get more looks the rest of the way.
If they surprise, and win more games than anyone expects, it'll help the value of their veterans when the purge eventually comes.
Because it is coming.
"There's a lot of decisions that will be made as the season goes on," Lamoriello said, carefully choosing his words. "[Young players] could be here before they know it. Or it could be some time. A lot of it depends on the whole process that we're going through."
It's not a sexy process. It likely won't be fun to watch a lot of nights, especially if you're paying $300 to sit in the platinum seats. Babcock will be trying to coax the best he can out of Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul, Michael Grabner, Brad Boyes and others with the full realization they won't be the ones on the roster when it makes real progress up the standings.
By February, they could simply become draft picks, assets for scouting guru Mark Hunter to try to convert into useful prospects.
Three to five years down the road.
The Leafs are in an interesting spot this season as they try to start their rebuilding off right. What Sunday's cuts showed quite clearly is that the organization is dealing with two rosters this fall: Leafs past and Leafs future.
Most of the future will start with the Marlies, where they'll get considerable playing time with a winning team.
Most of the past won't last.
But it'll take those in charge some time to sort out the finer details and determine who belongs where.
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Leafs roster after 16 cuts on Sunday
Forwards
(14): Arcobello, Boyes, Bozak, Grabner, Holland, Kadri, Komarov, Lupul, Matthias, Panik, Parenteau, Spaling, Van Riemsdyk, Winnik
Defence
(8): Gardiner, Harrington, Hunwick, Marincin, Phaneuf, Polak, Rielly, Robidas
Goal
(2): Bernier, Reimer
Note:
NHL teams have to be at the 23-man limit by 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the day before the regular season opens.