The Toronto Maple Leafs finished the abbreviated exhibition schedule on a positive note, sweeping their provincial rival, the Ottawa Senators, in a pair of split-squad games in Kanata and at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Wednesday, and finishing the pre-season at 2-1-1.
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After losing to Montreal in overtime at the Bell Centre and at home on Saturday, the Leafs bounced back with a 4-2 win at the Canadian Tire Centre and a 6-1 thrashing of the Sens on home ice. On the road, Toronto and Ottawa exchanged goals in the second and third, before Ryan Tverberg scored the game-winner with 4:17 left in regulation. Henrik Rybinski, Steven Lorentz, and Teddy Blueger (empty-netter) also scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz made 19 saves in the win.
On home ice, a loaded NHL roster dominated, allowing only 14 shots on starter Sergei Bobrovsky. After falling behind 1-0 on a Tim Stutzle tally, the Leafs scored six straight on Sens netminder Leevi Merilainen. Jake McCabe, John Tavares, Jack Roslovic, Zack MacEwen, Morgan Rielly, and Auston Matthews scored, and rookie Gavin McKenna once again impressed by assisting on Tavares’ game-winner and playing on a line with the fellow first overall pick and William Nylander.
The only sour note to the evening was an injury to big forward Nick Paul, who played less than five minutes before being sidelined for the rest of the game. Head coach Jim Hiller indicated on Thursday that Paul is day-to-day, but that it is an injury he is not overly concerned with.
Wednesday was the beginning of moving day for Toronto, as they announced the return of 2025 second-rounder Tinus-Luc Koblar to Rogle BK of the SHL, Alexander Bilecki (Kitchener), Tyler Hopkins (Guelph), and Harry Nansi (Owen Sound) to their CHL clubs, and Matt Hellickson, Adam Kydd, Joe Miller and Max Smolinski to their ECHL affiliate in Cincinnati.
They also assigned Matt Anderson, Matthew Barbolini, Vinny Borgesi, Sawyer Boulton, Brandon Buhr, Frank Djurasevic, Hayes Hundley, Reese Johnson, Marc Johnstone, Ryan Kirwan, Jackson Kunz, Kaiden Mbereko, Ben Meehan, Ross Mitton, Timofei Obvintsev, Logan Shaw, Sam Stevens and Borya Valis to their AHL camp, and placed Cole McWard and Dakota Mermis on waivers.
Both McWard and Mermis cleared waivers and were assigned to the Marlies on Thursday.
On Thursday, stage 2 of the cutdowns occurred, with goalies Artur Akhtyamov, Ken Appleby, and Samuel Hlavaj; defensemen Noah Chadwick, Ben Danford, and Blake Smith; and forwards Luke Haymes, Miroslav Holinka, Jacob Quillan, and Landon Sim being sent to the Marlies, and defensemen Philippe Myers and Marshall Rifai, and forwards Brendan Brisson, Vinni Letteri, Steven Lorentz, Michael Pezzetta, Henrik Rybinski, and Ryan Tverberg placed on waivers.
These moves would get the Leafs down to 23 players (14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies), with blueliner Nick Blankenberg still on a PTO. Max Domi is expected to be placed on LTIR to get Toronto under the salary cap.
