Two exhibition games have been played, but they offered a lot of insight into what the Leafs' roster will look like on opening night. Before getting into the roster, here's some thoughts:
1. The first line of Kulemin, Bozak and Kessel looked great last night. Kessel looks better than ever and was a step ahead of any other player on the ice.
2. Christian Hanson and Luca Captui have both looked solid. I think Hanson will end up with the third line centre job, with Armstrong and Caputi on his wings.
3. Schenn looks confident and is doing a lot more offensively than he has in the past. He's in for a big year.
4. Kadri has seemed very tentative, which I don't think is a bad thing. I think he is trying to concentrate on the fundamentals rather than just running towards the puck and trying to do things on his own. With a bit of time, the fundamentals will become second nature and he will start to open up his game. I'm happy that he was not just running all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off. I do think he'd benefit with some time with the Marlies and I expect he’ll be sent down for at least part of the season.
That being said, here's what I think the roster will look like on opening night (with salary cap figures in brackets):
FORWARDS
Nikolai Kulemin ($2.350m) / Tyler Bozak ($3.725m) / Phil Kessel ($5.400m)
Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($2.900m) / Clarke MacArthur ($1.100m)
Colby Armstrong ($3.000m) / Christian Hanson ($0.650m) / Luca Caputi ($0.833m)
Fredrik Sjostrom ($0.750m) / John Mitchell ($0.725m) / Colton Orr ($1.000m)
Mike Brown ($0.537m)
DEFENSEMEN
Tomas Kaberle ($4.250m) / Dion Phaneuf ($6.500m)
Francois Beauchemin ($3.800m) / Mike Komisarek ($4.500m)
Carl Gunnarsson ($0.800m) / Luke Schenn ($2.975m)
Brett Lebda ($1.450m)
GOALTENDERS
Jean-Sebastien Giguere ($6.000m)
Jonas Gustavsson ($1.350m)
TOTALS
SALARY CAP: $59,400,000
CAP PAYROLL: $60,079,166
BONUSES: $5,385,000
BUYOUTS: Darcy Tucker ($1.000m)
CARRY-OVER BONUS PENALTY: $1,400,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $3,775,834
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