Leafs down to 26 man roster following major cuts on Sunday.

Leafs make major cuts today.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Leafs down to 26 man roster following major cuts on Sunday.

The final day of the preseason is upon us and that means there is going to be a ton of action on waivers over the course of the next 24-48 hours. 

One of the many teams to make sweeping cuts to their roster today was the Toronto Maple Leafs and although the Leafs didn't quite finalize their roster they came pretty close by trimming it down to just 26 men. The Leafs began the day with 44 total players on their roster and that means that 18NHL hopefuls were given the bad news today. All in all the Leafs placed 5 players on waivers and sent an additional 13 players down to the American Hockey League where they will join the Toronto Marlies.

The 5 players who will be placed on waivers are veteran forward Adam Cracknell, forward Chris Mueller, forward Josh Joorisb, defenseman Jordan Subban and defenseman Vincent LoVerde. None of these players failing to make the cut is particularly surprising given the current crop of players on the Leafs roster but it may say a great deal about the future of each of these men.

Cracknell spent nearly the entire 2017 - 2018 NHL regular season in the AHL and being waived for the pruposes of being sent back down to start the season does not bode well for his NHL future. Cracknell has over 200 games of NHL experience under his belt but it appears that teams around the league no longer see much value in keeping him around at the NHL level.

Mueller finds himself in a similar scenario. After playing at the NHL level for the Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, and New York Rangers early on in his career Mueller has spent several consecutive seasons in the AHL and that seems to be his destiny once again this season. Vincent LoVerde is a career American Hockey League player and has never played in so much as a single NHL game thus far in his career, and unfortunately he won't get that opportunity with the Leafs either, at least not in the foreseeable future.

Of all the players being waived by the Leafs Jordan Subban may be the player who is most likely to be claimed by a rival organization. In spite of the fact that several teams have shown a lack of faith in his abilities thus far their continues to be interest in the young man for whatever reason. The Canucks traded him to the Kings who then let him walk away only to see him signed by the Maple Leads to a new contract. The Leafs don't see him as one of their top 7 defensemen for this season and given the fact that he has yet to play in a single NHL game I would be surprised if any other team believes he fits that description. Still don't be surprised if there is a 4th team out there willing to take the gamble.

Players who were also cut by the Leafs on Sunday but that did not need to be processed through waivers in order to be sent down are the following: Borgman, Bracco, Brooks, Clark, Clune, Engvall, Greening, Grundstrom, Liljegren, Marchment, Moore, Rosen, and Timashov

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