The Toronto Maple Leafs prospects’ first action had some lustre taken off it, as the club chose not to send top overall pick Gavin McKenna to Gatineau to face the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs youngsters lost to the Sens 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. Sawyer Boulton, Luke Haymes, and Borya Valis scored for Toronto.
The more potentially impactful news on Saturday was the announcement that the Leafs have invited veteran defenseman Nick Blankenburg to training camp on a professional tryout (PTO). The 28-year-old has played for Columbus, Nashville, and Colorado over five NHL seasons, and split time between the Predators and Avalanche last season, posting 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) in 61 games.
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There are many ways that this invite can be interpreted. The 5’9″, 177 lb. righty is a good puck mover and was arguably the best available free-agent defenseman still available. Based on the Leafs depth chart on the right side, there still remain questions about the health and durability of Chris Tanev. Toronto brought back Troy Stecher on a short-term deal, but the Leafs are one Tanev injury away from either William Villeneuve or Ben Danford needing to fill in, or having to play a liability like Philippe Myers on the bottom pairing, so the addition of Blankenburg is likely Tanev insurance.
We will discuss this and much more on the Leafs Convo Sunday Spectacular with Norman James:
Watch Sunday’s Off The Post with Anthony Mingioni, Russ Cohen, myself, and guest Julian McKenzie of the Athletic:
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