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Preseason coming to an end!

by Bethany on 10/05/08 at 10:28 AM ET
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The preseason is finally coming to an end. After the game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the roster will go from 31 to 23 players. It’s crazy to think that hockey season has snuck up on us so fast. Anyway, onto the game tonight, I am pretty sure it will be on the Leafs site but I will keep you posted.

The Maple Leafs are coming off of a tough loss last night to the Detroit Red Wings. Here’s their lineup for tonight:

Forward: Niklas Hagman, Alex Steen, Jiri Tlusty, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers, Boyd Devereaux, Alex Ponikarovsky, John Mitchell, Ryan Hollweg, Jason Blake, Nik Antropov, Mikhail Grabovski.

Defense: Luke Schenn, Ian White, Carlo Colaiacovo, Tomas Kaberle, Jonas Frogren, Mike Van Ryn, Anton Stralman.

Goaltenders: Curtis Joseph, Vesa Toskala

Toskala will get the start since Cujo played last night. Also, one of the defensemen needs to be scratched. I won’t pretend to know which one, but it’d be nice to see Luke Schenn play.

Onto other matters, the cuts that need to be made. We know that Raffi Torres will be on injured reserve at the start of the season.

The defense is the hardest position to decide who is going to make the cut. It basically comes down to Methot and Rome. I have made it clear in the past that I’m not a big Methot fan. That still stands true. Rome is the better of the defensemen, he hits harder, and you hardly notice him on the ice that’s what you want in a stay at home guy. He rarely makes mistakes, and he takes his job seriously. After Methot’s comments to the Dispatch the other day, maybe it is best that he leaves Columbus, or that he goes through waivers and is able to see who takes him, if anyone does. It would be awful to lose a good prospect, I do think that someday he will be a solid defensemen, it remains to be seen if he will be for us though.

Forwards are another story. We need someone to replace Torres. I’ve already said that I think the organization will keep Filatov up for a few games just to see how he does, then send him to Juniors. Then, my guess is Picard. Picard had a good camp and played well this preseason.

These decisions have to be made my Wednesday. So, we should know Tuesday what our opening night roster is going to look like.

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