Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, left, and general manager Lou Lamoriello attend a news conference in July. Lamoriello’s edict restricting Leafs charter flights set off a social-media uproar.Galit Rodan/The Canadian Press
The Toronto Maple Leafs roster is almost set for opening night.
Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello cut 16 players on Sunday afternoon – two days before the NHL's final deadline to get to a 23-man roster – to bring their training camp roster to 24.
Five of those cut require waivers to go to the AHL: T.J. Brennan, Andrew Campbell, Sam Carrick, Matt Frattin and Byron Froese.
The other 11 young players have been sent directly to the Marlies: Antoine Bibeau, Connor Brown, Rich Clune, Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Viktor Loov, William Nylander, Stuart Percy, Nikita Soshnikov, Garret Sparks and Rinat Valiev.
The exodus means Lamoriello and the Leafs other brass have only one decision left to make. Toronto now has 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders in camp, and NHL teams rarely carry two extra defencemen.
What's forced the Leafs a bit is they like the play of Scott Harrington, one of the prospects they acquired from Pittsburgh for Phil Kessel and who is challenging 38-year-old vet Stephane Robidas for a job.
If the Leafs can't decide between those two, they can demote a forward, but all the available candidates (like Mark Arcobello) would have to be placed on waivers.
The other complicating factor is that, leaguewide, there will be a lot of useful players on waivers on Monday at noon, and the Leafs may wish to make a claim there. If they do, they'll need to waive and demote someone else.
The Leafs season starts in Toronto on Wednesday against Montreal.
Leafs current roster:
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