Preseason Game #2 vs. Philadelphia

It's a battle of brothers tonight against Philadelphia. Brayden Schenn and newly signed Blake Kessel will square off against their older brothers Luke and Phil.

I'm really interested in seeing this lineup tonight, probably more so then yesterday's because they are icing a few more question marks tonight. My darkhorses to make a push for the LW spot in Luca Caputi and Marcel Mueller will get their chance and I'm hoping both have strong games. Greg Scott is another player who has put in his time with the Marlies the last few seasons and could be in the mix for a 4th line position. He's likely Marlie bound, but could see a call-up this season. Joe Colborne should be a bit more engaged this time as his timing comes back. I thought he looked a step behind last night in terms of timing, so I expect that to fix itself as the preseason continues on.

On the defensive side of things, there are tons of players looking to compete for spots. I'm specifially interested in Simon Gysbers and Jesse Blacker. Gysbers had a very productive season with the Marlies, but I want to see how he handles NHL competition. He has darkhorse potential to push for a roster spot in the coming year. I expect Blacker to have a similar 'wow' factor that Gardiner did - although Blacker will have the less experienced/talented defensive group to work with.

There are a handful of Flyers I'm interested in seeing also, so it should be a really fun game! Lots of youth on both sides.

Confirmed names, unconfirmed line-up combination's...

Philadelphia

James Van Reimsdyk - Brayden Schenn - Wayne Simmonds

Harry Zolnierczyk - Sean Couturier - Mark Testwuide

Matt Read - Michael Nylander - Eric Wellwood

Tom Sestito - Ben Holmstrom - Zac Rinaldo

Matt Carle - Oscar Bartulis

Erik Gustafsson- Matt Walker

Oliver Lauridesen - Blake Kessel

Michael Leighton

Sergei Bobrovski

Toronto

Joffrey Lupul - Tim Connolly - Phil Kessel

Clarke MacArthur - Joe Colborne - Marcel Mueller

Nazem Kadri - Daryl Boyce - Luca Caputi

Greg Scott - Mike Zigomanis - Colton Orr

Cody Franson - Mike Komisarek

Jeff Finger - Luke Schenn

Simon Gysbers - Jesse Blacker

James Reimer

 Mark Owuya

Notes:

... Reimer is expected to play the entire game.....MacArthur, Colborne and Kadri draw back into the lineup for their second game in two nights.....Dion Phaneuf and Jay Rosehill are healthy scratches Finger will look to rebound after an injury filled season last year..Ditto for Caputi.... Puck drops at 7:00pm on Leafs TV, and I'm sure you'll be able to catch a live-stream somewhere. Check out the game thread at Hockey's Future - Toronto Maple Leafs Forum to find live-streams of the game....Here's the list of those at Maple Leafs Training Camp List....the roster will be trimmed to 40 on Wednesday expect all junior players and tryouts to be returned to their teams....

Preseason Game #1 vs. Ottawa

Here we go! I love exhibition games! I like to see the mixing and the matching of players to see where the fit. I love giving the youngsters a chance to prove themselves and see how the react in certain situations. Tonight, the Maple Leafs take on the provincial rival Ottawa Senators. I'm really starting to respect the talent in the Senators system and I'm interested in seeing how they fair tonight.

I'm going to update this as the line combination's come in, but from what I'm hearing Ottawa is dressing their 'tough guys'. So I'm excited to see how the Maple Leafs react to that.

I'm expecting the line of Nazem Kadri - Tyler Bozak - Colby Armstrong to be one of the line combination's tonight. Kadri needs a good camp as he's fighting for that left-wing spot. I'm actually in the minority that believe Luca Caputi and Marcel Mueller could give a good run for that LW spot. They may not make it at the end of the day, but I believe there to be more competition then just Frattin, Colborne and Kadri for that spot.

Confirmed names, unconfirmed line-up combination's...

Ottawa Senators:

Nikita Filatov - Peter Regin - Bobby Butler

Milan Michalek - Mika Zibanejad - Mark Stone

 Colin Greening - Zach Smith - Chris Neil

Mike Hoffman - Zenon Kenopka - Francis Lessard
(Mark Parrish, Stephane Da Costa, Nick Foligno)

Erik Karlsson - Filip Kuba

Patrick Weincroch - Tim Conboy

David Rundblad - Jared Cowen

(Mark Borowiecki, Eric Gryba)

Alex Auld (1/2)

Robin Lehner (1/2)
(Craig Andersson)

Toronto Maple Leafs:

Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin

Nazem Kadri - Tyler Bozak - Colby Armstrong

Joey Crabb - Joe Colbone - Matt Frattin

Kenny Ryan - Philippe Dupuis - Jay Rosehill
(Colton Orr)

Dion Phaneuf - Keith Aulie

Jean Michael Liles - Jake Gardiner
Carl Gunnarsson - Matt Lashoff
(Cody Franson, Mike Komisarek)

Jonas Gustavsson (1/2)

Ben Scrivens (1/2)

Notes:

... goalies Jonas Gustavsson and Ben Scrivens will split duties tonight. I'm not a fan of 'splitting' games, and I hope it doesn't continue in pre-season. I'd like to see them get full games in. Having them ease into game action isn't a bad idea either .. lots of pre-season games to be had....Expect the Grabovski and Bozak line to be in tact for the game. Those have been rumoured combos for a little while. Colborne's line seems like a likely one potentially for the Marlies, could be together tonight.....Cody Franson and Mike Komisarek aren't skating this morning, so assumptions are they will be scratched also....21 players listed on the Maple Leafs game-sheet, which means 3 will be scratched by game-time....Kenny Ryan makes his debut tonight on the 4th line. Ryan had a very strong rookie-tournament. He's pushing for a position with the Marlies....Puck drops at 7:00pm on Leafs TV, and I'm sure you'll be able to catch a live-stream somewhere. Check out the game thread at Hockey's Future - Toronto Maple Leafs Forum to find live-streams of the game....Here's the list of those at Maple Leafs Training Camp List....Lineup for both squads:  Leafs vs. Sens

On a bit of a side note, just want to touch on the Luke Schenn deal. He signed for 5 years and at a cap hit of $3.5 million. How can you not like this deal? It takes him to free-agency, sure, but I'm not worried about that. The hope is Schenn can keep rounding into a stronger two-way defender, but he'll always be defensive minded. I'm very happy to be watching him the next 5 seasons at that price.. extremely manageable.