Leafs Roster Includes Two Waiver Claims

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a series of roster moves on Monday to get down to 23 players. After the club had three players clear waivers (Travis Boyd, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, and Vinni Letteri), they also placed winger Michael Pezzetta and defensemen Henry Thrun, Dakota Mermis, and Matt Benning on waivers on Sunday, all of whom cleared and were demoted to the Toronto Marlies. On Monday, the Leafs claimed winger Sammy Blais off of waivers from the Montreal Canadiens, and also claimed former Habs goalie Cayden Primeau from the Carolina Hurricanes.

Blais, 29, played for Leafs head coach Craig Berube on the 2019 Stanley Cup-winning St. Louis Blues squad, and was an energy forward for the Blues until he was traded to the NY Rangers as part of the Pavel Buchnevich deal in 2021. Two years later, the Montmagny, Ouebec native was dealt back to the Blues in the Niko Mikkola/Vladimir Tarasenko deal. He played part-time for Berube until he was fired by the Blues in December 2023. After not being re-signed, the 6’2″, 203 lb. winger signed an AHL deal with Vancouver and won a Calder Cup with Abbotsford, scoring 19 points in 23 playoff games.

Primeau, 26, was a 2017 seventh-round pick of Montreal and played six seasons in the Canadiens organization. His best NHL campaign was 2023-24, where he posted a 2.99 GAA, and a .910 save percentage in 23 games. Last season, he went an impressive 21-2-2 for AHL Laval, but the Habs have prospect Jacob Fowler in the loop and allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent. The son of NHLer Keith and nephew of former Leaf Wayne Primeau signed a one-year deal with Carolina in July, but the Canes claimed goalie Brandon Bussi from Florida on Sunday and placed Primeau on waivers.

The Leafs sent goalie Dennis Hildeby down to the AHL and released James Reimer from his PTO, and will go with Anthony Stolarz and Primeau until Joseph Woll returns. With the demotion of Thrun, Toronto is carrying seven defensemen: Simon Benoit, Brandon Carlo, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jake McCabe, Philippe Myers, Morgan Rielly, and Chris Tanev, and according to the Leafs release of their cap-compliant roster, 14 forwards: Blais, Max Domi, Calle Järnkrok, Dakota Joshua, Matthew Knies, Steven Lorentz, Matias Maccelli, Auston Matthews, Bobby McMann, William Nylander, Jacob Quillan, Nick Robertson, Nicolas Roy, John Tavares.

There is some speculation that the current roster is situated to get as close to the salary cap before placing Scott Laughton and Marshall Rifai on LTIR, and that could mean that rookie Easton Cowan will be recalled to play in the season opener against Montreal.