Wilson Announces Leafs Lineup

As per Sportsnet the Maple Leafs lineup will be the following on opening night vs. the Habs:

Forwards:

Blake-Stajan-Stalberg

Hagman-Grabovski-Ponikarovsky

Rosehill-Primeau-Orr

Wallin-Mitchell-Stempniak

Defence:

Beauchemin-Schenn

Kaberle-Komisarek

White -Exelby

In net:

Toskala

Gustavsson

Extras: Tyler Bozak, Nikoali Kulemin, Jiri Tlusty
Injuries: Jeff Finger, Mike Van Ryn, Jamal Mayers

My take...

It's unfortunate that those young guys couldn't crack the opening night roster but I expect in time all will see action.

Love the line Stalberg is on. They should produce fairly well and be a handful of speed for the other teams.

The second line should also be productive. All three of those players hit the 20 goal mark last season. I'm hoping Hagman can stay healthy becasue he's a damn good player when he is. Ponikarovsky and Grabovski I'm expecting more of the same from (approximately 50pt seasons).

That third line, looks like it should be a fourth line (probably is) but anyways... TOUGH. Should make some noise in the first game of the season. Expecting some hits and some fights. Liked what I saw from Rosehill in the preseason so hopefully he can carry it over.

Lastly I think Stempniak will have a rebound year (either on Toronto or somewhere else). Contract year -- he'll be looking for a payday. Looked pretty good in the preseason also. Wallin should be a good 3rd liner and of course, John Mitchell who is a good developing player.

The defensive pairings look solid. Not sold on Exelby from what I saw in the preseason but hopefully he can rebound. BIG game for Mike Komisarek also... I'd imagine he'll want to play at the top of his game.

In net I'm not sold on Toskala either. Hopefully he can play well enough, but again, I didn't like what I saw out of a couple preseason games. To be honest, I'm not sold on Gustavsson either so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

Can't wait for Thursday night!

Waived: Joey MacDonald

As reported earlier today by Sportsnet, Leaf goaltender Joey MacDonald was placed on waivers and (should he clear) will be assigned to the Marlies.

In other 'old' news, Nazem Kadri has been sent back to the London Knights. Not really a big surprise in the grand scheme of things. I mean yeah he did play pretty good...

• He scored..
• He hit..
• He was always moving his feet..
• He was strong on face-offs..
• He was a good enough two-way player..

But at the end of the day, his development is best served in juniors. He'll be the focus of the London Knights offence, and he'll be a key player for Team Canada as they defend their gold again this year. So yes, it was a good move. Ontop of everything else the kid needs to add another 15lbs of muscle to survive in the NHL over an 82 game grind.

Oh, and in other news: Christian Hanson and Jonas Frogren (waived) were sent down to the Marlies. Hanson had a good camp, but not a great one. He'll need to work on his skating but if I was a betting man I'd say we see him again soon this season.

Frogren was a good 6/7th defender but with the new acquisitions he was not needed.