Toronto Maple Leafs Announce First Round of Cuts
With training camps underway and preseason games ramping up teams are starting to get an idea of the players that have a shot of making their roster for this upcoming season. For the Toronto Maple Leafs, they wasted no time releasing their first round of cuts from their training camp as 10 players get reassigned.
The Leafs cut 10 players including Matt Finn, Stefan Della Rovere, Brett Findlay, Spencer Machacek, Ryan Rupert, Francis Wathier, Patrick Watling, Matt Rupert, Carter Verhaeghe and recently signed free agent Cody Donaghey.
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Matt Rupert alongside Verhaeghe and Donaghey will be reassigned their respective junior clubs, while the others will be sent to the Toronto Marlies in hopes of cracking their roster.
Matt Finn is one of the Leafs brightest upcoming prospects but it’s clear they want to take their time with his development. He captains the OHL’s Guelph Storm who he led to an OHL championship last season. There was hope the defenceman would crack the Leafs blue line this season after an impressive OHL campaign which saw him win the honour of being the OHL’s top captain.
The Leafs drafted Finn in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft, a surprise to many that the defenceman fell that far. While he won’t be cracking the Leafs blue line, he’ll be competing hard to earn big minutes on the Marlies blue line and is always a phone call away from the NHL.
Joining Finn on the Marlies will be former London Knights forward Ryan Rupert who the Leafs took in the 6th round of the 2012 draft. Coming off an impressive 73 point season with the Knights, Rupert should battle hard for top minutes with the Marlies. Ryan’s brother, Matt Rupert will be heading back to the OHL’s London Knights after the Leafs signed him as a free agent.
This will be the first season in quite awhile the Rupert twins will not be playing on the same team and it will be interesting to see how both adapt to the change.
Stefan Della Rovere, Spencer Machacek, Francis Wathier are all signed on professional contracts and will need to crack the Marlies squad to stick in the Leafs organization.
Despite being signed to a three-year entry level deal mere days ago, the Leafs have decided to send Cody Donaghey back to Quebec for this upcoming season. Perhaps it was the fact he chose to wear the number 69 during his time with the Leafs. Donaghey had 38 points in 67 games with Quebec Remparts last season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will open their preseason action up tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers and one can expect more cuts on Tuesday or Wednesday following the game.