We said something like that last season and when they signed Tanev and due to their older dmen
Ages of their top 6 dmen during this season reach 31, 33, 33, 33, 35, 37
Andrae, who I currently regard as a 7th, until he proves otherwise, turns 25 this season.
Before they hand out another Cup, only 5 players on the Leafs current 23 man roster will be under 30.
Quillan & Haymes have been called up before and are waivers exempt.
Groulx & Pezzetta have been called up before and cleared waivers before.
They re-signed playoff scoring leader Lettieri who has cleared waivers before (but might not this time ..)
So they have some depth from last season
They added MacEwen who has 240 NHL games and cleared waivers before
There are other recent AHL signings who are waivers exempt and might help.
In other words, in my opinion, they do not need to carry 14 forwards on the roster. 13 will do because of the AHL depth they have
They should look at carrying 8 dmen to help the older dmen get through the regular season.
You want Tanev for the playoffs - give him all the back to backs off. Maybe OEL too.
Villeneuve turns 25 this season, is not a fleet skater, is not waivers exempt - might be an unproven 8th but promising offensively. I do not know if they have to worry about him getting claimed off waivers ... They can add his $850k without exceeding the cap if Domi is LTIR.
They would presumably also have Rifai, Myers & Mermis under contract who are not waivers exempt but have cleared waivers before. (... I was hoping we had seen the last of Myers ...)
They do have Chadwick, Webber & Danford and maybe others as waivers exempt but none of those three seem NHL ready though Chadwick and Danford had good moments in the AHL playoffs.
Their AHL depth for dmen may not be as helpful And those are tougher positions to fill.
If you have 2 spares attending practices and helping in back to backs, that helps reduce the risks of inserting them into the lineup.
Trading Rielly sounds great for the cap but teams are not giving away dmen for nothing and the UFAs are cleaned out.
