Gameday: Preview and Chat for Leafs at Sens
Would you go to Belleville to watch a hockey game, though?
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators
07:00 PM at CAA Arena, Belleville
Watch on: SN1
Opponent’s Site: Silver Seven
Tonight is a very preseason game in a “neutral” site (the home of the Ottawa AHL team) and with a very preseason Toronto lineup for what is nominally a road game.
Before we get into the rosters and lines, some news:
Injury updates from Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe:
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 30, 2022
Carl Dahlstrom (shoulder) will need surgery; out six months
Jordie Benn (groin) out at least three weeks
Even with Rasmus Sandin re-signed, that means the only genuine number seven defender is Victor Mete. The rest are all AHL-level players with no experience. Darren Dreger reported on Insider Trading that the Leafs were looking at defenders other teams had on PTOs, and they likely still are.
Onto the game!
Them
The Senators are bringing quite a lot of their NHL lineup including their defenceman.
Lines
I believe this is the group coming. The Sens play a back-to-back, so they had to split their roster up.
Group 1 #Sens lines
— Claire Hanna (@clahanna) September 29, 2022
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Crookshank-Stützle-Boucher
Kelly-Greig-Watson
Lucchini-Chartier-Hawryluk
Chabot-Zub
Holden-JBD
Rubins-Guenette
Bernard-Roger
Forsberg
Mandolese
Bibeau
Us
The Leafs are not bringing an NHL lineup, to say the least:
David Kämpf is the best forward, and the Malgin/Holmberg show is without their star, William Nylander, who played the most minutes of any forward in the last game and deserves a night off.
Justin Holl is the star of the defence, and the rest of the crowd could earn a shot at knocking Victor Mete out for number seven if they work hard enough. I have seen reports that Ilya Samsonov is expected to play the full game, so the goalie situation is now being run in a serious fashion with Erik Källgren as backup to the NHL goalies.
Lines
We’ll have lines closer to game time in the comments.
The Game
Beyond seeing Samsonov again, there isn’t a great deal to get from a game like this. Someone is bound to be hyphenated, since that’s what the Leafs forward lines are capable of for the most part, and frankly, just no one needing surgery tomorrow would be good.
Okay, I could make some poll full of cynicism around how dreadful this game will be, but instead, let’s be positive.
Which young player do you think will shine the brightest in this game?
Oh, and Go Leafs-adjacent team Go!!