NATHAN DENETTE
Leafs lineup in the links, as per usual, and there are a few additions there of note for tonight's game against Philadelphia. Prospects Greg McKegg, Korbinian Holzer and Tim Brent get into their first preseason action, while James Reimer gets his second consecutive start.
Toronto has a 3 p.m. bus ride to London, Ont., for the game.
The hunch is that Jay Rosehill will be the forward who doesn't play, as he's been in the lineup twice already (and fought twice). Because they're playing the Broadstreet Bullies, however, my guess is the Leafs want a look at their lineup before deciding to sit Rosehill. Toronto has six fighting majors so far in preseason, which is tied with Ottawa and Tampa for the NHL lead.
Monster is the backup tonight and probably plays half the game. Expect Jean-Sebastien Giguere, meanwhile, to make his first appearance Friday at home and play the full 60 minutes in the rematch with the Flyers.
Toronto has still yet to announce any cuts, but there will be a ton coming on the weekend as they prepare for their final four exhibition games next week (two at home and one apiece in Ottawa and Detroit).
Ron Wilson took the day off from chatting with us, with assistant coach Rob Zettler filling in. Good to have a different voice once in a while anyway. Here is the audio from Zettler's scrum with reporters.
One player getting a lot of attention today was Luca Caputi, one of the bubble guys in terms of winning a forward spot. He played well in last night's game (named the first star with a goal and an assist) and gets another shot tonight. My sense is he'll make it through the initial cuts and be battling players like Jerry D'Amigo and Marcel Mueller for the final spots.
Other players trying to win jobs to keep an eye on tonight will be Nazem Kadri (obviously), Mueller, Christian Hanson, Matt Lashoff and Holzer. Reimer could also make a strong case tonight for being the Marlies starter and first injury callup in goal. Everyone in the organization has spoken very highly of him so far in camp.
Speaking of Kadri, AM640's Jonas Siegel has a good update on Wilson's chat with him today.
And finally, in case you missed it, my story from today's paper was on Tyler Bozak and how Phil Kessel is helping him learn the NHL game. The Leafs are counting on a big year from Bozak given he'll be the No. 1 centre.
2:47 p.m. UPDATE Leafs have cut 12 players: Jamie Devane, Ken Ryan, Richard Greenop, Barron Smith, Justin Hodgman, Dale Mitchell, Mikhail Stefanovitch, Josh Engel, Michael Liambas, Josh Nicholls, Drew Paris and Andrew Engelage. Liambas was outright released while the rest of the gang will head to junior or Marlies camp, which I believe opens Monday.
Here's the official release from the team. The first four I mentioned head back to their various junior teams.
The Leafs are down to 52 players in camp after those cuts and will drop another 24 to 26 players by Sunday. There's one week of camp after that to make the final call on those last handful of players.