Quick Shifts: Overcrowded Maple Leafs roster sets up fights for jobs

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Guess who's back. Back again...

1. You don't have to be a math wizard like Brandon Pridham to calculate that the Toronto Maple Leafs don't have (a) enough cap space or (b) enough roster spots to keep all the NHL forwards they've invited to training camp happy.

Or keep them all, period.

If your name is Nick Robertson, Steven Lorentz, Pontus Holmberg, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Reaves or Connor Dewar, you better arrive at medicals Wednesday ready to start battling for a role.

To say nothing of prospects and AHL hopefuls like Easton Cowan, Nikita Grebyonkin, Fraser Minten, Alex Steeves and Alex Nylander.

September is shaping up to bring the most competitive Leafs camp in years.

Something's gotta give. Word to Jack Nicholson.

The hope from management and fans alike is that the most deserving of the lot not only make the cut but make an impact — and make up for the 21 goals Tyler Bertuzzi took out the door.

While the club's core stars remain as comfortable as ever, GM Brad Treliving is offering no assurances to those on the fringes.

His plan? Gather a bunch of pins-and-needles aspirants — players who might not be ready for the NHL and others whose time in the show may be coming to an end — and give new coach Craig Berube as many options as possible. Then see how the pieces puzzle together. 

Who stays healthy? Who strikes chemistry with the core? Or who can yield a decent return in trade?

"All that stuff is going to sort itself out at camp," Treliving told reporters Thursday. 

"What we're trying to do is make our roster as deep as possible. I think there's going to be lots of people pushing for jobs."

Pacioretty, 35, appears to be blessed with a veteran's head start coming off a full summer of pure training, not just ankle rehab. Yet top-six placement in autumn didn't prevent gambles like Joe Thornton, Nick Ritchie and Jimmy Vesey from playing their way down Toronto's lineup or out of the city in the past.

"My expectation is he's going to be with us," Treliving said. "But everyone has to earn their spot here."

That includes Robertson, whose fate is the most unpredictable of the bunch. 

Yes, his resolved stalemate, team-friendly salary ($875,000) and age (23) make him more tradable, but this also should make him more valuable to Berube.

"It's a fresh, clean slate with a new coach," Treliving said. 

"New opportunity. I know the last couple days he's been here, he's excited, and I'm looking forward to seeing him."

Just as we're looking forward to seeing who survives camp and who becomes expendable.

2. St. Louis's Robert Thomas has played the bulk of his pro career (and won a Stanley Cup) under the tutelage of Berube. 

Here's what it's like to play under the Leafs' new head coach, according to Thomas's 32 Thoughts: The Podcast appearance in Las Vegas:

"He's always a player's coach. As a player, he's honest with you. He'll listen to you. Tell you his honest opinion. There's just a straight line with him. He sticks up for his players. He expects good things, and he believes in you. 

"There's always a couple times he'd pull me in (to his office) and just say, 'You're not playing hard enough. You're cheating a little bit. You're not scoring and you're cheating, so then you're really not scoring.'"

3. In the five seasons Sheldon Keefe coached the Leafs, Toronto operated the second-best offence in the league.

No wonder, then, that Jack Hughes — whose New Jersey Devils rank 18th over that span — is so, uh, jacked up by the hiring of the new bench boss.

"Bringing Sheldon in is really exciting. I watch a lot of the Leafs, with Matthews and Nylander and Marner," Hughes said during a recording of the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. 

"I kinda know what he does, how he loads lines up in the O-zone draws. He gets Matthews and those guys their looks. I'm excited to speak to him and hopefully develop a good relationship."

Hughes has also received rave reviews of the Devils' new No. 1 goaltender and former Canuck, Jacob Markstrom, from big brother Quinn. 

Jack said he texted Markstrom a note soon after the June 19 trade to welcome him to the club. In part, the message read: "A couple months late."

4. Hey, who's going to play goal for Team Canada at the Olympics? 

Or even this February's 4 Nations Face-Off, for that matter?

GM Don Sweeney notes that two of the past three recent Stanley Cup–winning goalies are Canadian — Darcy Kuemper (2022) and Adin Hill (2023) — but says management will undergo an "extensive process" before deciding.

Edmonton native Stuart Skinner, surely, played himself into the debate with his playoff run. Neither Kuemper nor Hill were undisputed No. 1s on their respective NHL clubs last season.

If there is any position up for grabs in the first couple months of 2024-25, it's for the honour of backstopping Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and the rest.

5. A guy like Matty Beniers is why the term "sophomore slump" still exists.

Much like his team, the Seattle Kraken, Beniers was a revelation in 2022-23, exploding for 24 goals and 57 points, winning the Calder Trophy and helping eliminate the reigning champion Colorado Avalanche.

Year 2 was a dramatic step back: 15 goals and 37 points, a dash-11 rating and no sustained presence in the playoff race.

So, it was at least a little curious to see a patient executive like Kraken GM Ron Francis bet big on a Beniers bounce-back, inking the 21-year-old centre to a seven-year extension at $7.15 million per year.

Not a bad payday coming off a 15-goal showing with no arbitration leverage.

“I have no concerns about Matty’s game long-term. He’ll be a big part of this organization for a lot of years moving forward,” Francis has assured.

For the 2025 Kraken to be more 2023 than 2024, the club needs Beniers to live up to his promise. 

Not to be overlooked is that Seattle could be in line to bring back the NBA's SuperSonics in the not-so-distant future.

Right now, the Kraken have the benefit of little competition when it comes to raking in the city's gate dollars, but the NHL club needs to be competitive.

Which plays into Francis's free-agency spending this summer on Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson.

The latter should eat up some of the hard defensive matchups down the middle, hopefully freeing young Beniers to reach new offensive heights.

"He's definitely felt the pressure since he came into the organization, since Day 1," teammate Vince Dunn said. 

"We were a struggling team, and he was kind of looked at as the saviour of our team. And I'm sure he's been hearing that a lot and knowing that is going to have a prominent role ever since he's been drafted." 

Well, the pressure on Beniers won't relent now that he's locked up for $50 million guaranteed.

6. Vincent Trocheck's Michigan-goal-scoring son Leo wears a T-shirt emblazoned with the infamous dog-pile image of the Rangers celebrating Dad's double-OT playoff winner against the Hurricanes. 

Trocheck has signed a bunch of photos captured from the moment and said he might have to get a matching T-shirt for himself, too.

7. When Leon Draisaitl signed his eight-year, $112-million contract — a record-setter in the cap era — he gave a great quote:

“It’s my time now to give that back in a way, right? I’m aware of my responsibility," he said. "Is it pressure? In certain moments, there is pressure. But I’m going to get paid a lot of money to be able to handle those moments.”

Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman asked the Oilers star to expand on that sentiment in Las Vegas, and I loved the player's answer:

"It's a lot of money, right? I know, to an extent, of course, I deserve that. Every player deserves what they get. But it's a responsibility to the city and the people of Edmonton more so than anything. They support us. Their hearts are in it. They want us to win, and we want to be the guys that bring it back to them and bring that joy back into their life. And it's something that I take great pride in, putting that jersey on every night. 

"I thought it was really cool to see how excited people really were. Anywhere I went for the first couple of days, people were just ecstatic about having gotten that done and committing to the city. And it almost felt like, in a way, they've never had that before. Or maybe guys in the past would leave."

8. Yes, Draisaitl watched the viral clip, released by the Oilers, of the team silent and devastated in the dressing room fresh off Game 7's loss in Sunrise, Fla.

If he could play Game 7 again, right now, he would.

"That hurt a lot," Draisaitl said.

"It was tough to watch again, because I remember living that moment in real life. And I remember the pictures that I have in my head, seeing all the guys. Just how much care there is in the room and how much love and care we put into each other to get to that point. And then obviously the disappointment was... tough to watch."

So, how do you recover from such a gutting defeat?

"Hockey players are just, in a way, wired that way, right? They always look ahead. We're always like, OK, like we didn't get it done. Next season is our next chance. By our lifestyle and how we're all wired, this is just what we do. And it hurt for a long time. It still hurts. It's never going to go away until you actually win, I think. But I think you sit on it for a couple of weeks, then you get back after it and start that whole chase."

9. The Anaheim Ducks haven't named a captain since long-serving Ryan Getzlaf (now a member of the NHL's department of player safety) hung up his blades in 2022.

Well, that is expected to change when the rugged and witty Radko Gudas — who grew up an Adam Banks (Mighty Ducks movies) fan — shows up at camp and dons the orange.

The diplomatic Gudas said this week at the Player Media Tour that he's not assuming the 'C' will be his and that the decision should come from the guys within a dressing room that lead by committee.

That said, the 34-year-old world champion would "100 per cent" want the job. 

To give you an idea of the type of teammate Gudas is: He was rooting hard for his friends on the Florida Panthers during their Stanley Cup run, and some of his former teammates made a point during their Game 7 celebrations to FaceTime Gudas, who came up three wins shy in 2023.

They still wanted him to feel part of it.

10. Roope Hintz mowed off the flow this summer and is looking fast with some tightly cropped blond locks.

"It feels really cool without the helmet. I've been used to having the hair in the back," Hintz said this week, recording for the 32 Thoughts podcast.

His Dallas Stars teammates are now calling him the real Slim Shady.

11. When he wasn't negotiating his extension with Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff or training for a hopeful breakout season under new coach Scott Arniel, Cole Perfetti spent the summer golfing.

Like, a lot.

Sixty rounds as one of about 20 NHL and AHLers — Vince Dunn, Brandon Tanev, Mason Marchment, Ty Dellandrea, and Wyatt Johnson among them — who walk the links of the highly rated and challenging Coppinwood course in Uxbridge, Ont. 

"I started this summer at an 8 (handicap), and I got it down to a 2.5," Perfetti says proudly. 

The 22-year-old forward could hardly break 80 last summer, but his driver started clicking and now he's posting 73 or 74 on a good day. 

"Our course has a high rating, so you shoot 78, it's equivalent to shooting 74. So, my cap was going down like crazy. Threw a couple 74s in there. Am I really 2.5? I don't know. But it was a great summer. Played a lot of golf," he says with a smile.

If his hockey game improves that drastically, we could be talking about Perfetti threatening 30 goals.

12. What a week for the senior class of NHL legends still lacing 'em up.

Stateside, we've got Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo helping a local South Florida beer league squad knock off the reigning champs 5-2 (and giving the losing team's goal scorers a story to tell, too).

Meanwhile, in Czechia, 52-year-old Jaromir Jagr has shed 22 pounds in preparation for his 37th(!) season as a professional hockey player.

Unbelievable.

13. We normally stop at 12, but let's do 13.

It was the summer of 2016. Johnny Gaudreau was 23 years old, hot off his first 30-goal campaign in the NHL, and he was visiting Ontario to spend time with close friend Sean Monahan and to participate in Gatorade's star-studded G Camp, alongside the likes of Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Brent Burns, and other NHL stars.

The idea was to surprise a bunch of talented, up-and-coming contest winners by having Gaudreau join them on the ice and run stick-handling and shooting drills with them. Give the kids a taste of what it's like to share a sheet with a budding star.

Someone also had the idea of letting a decidedly older and slower reporter throw on the gear and try to keep pace with Gaudreau and a bunch of skilled teenagers whose dream of making the show wasn't decades in the rear view.

Despite busting a couple drills and getting dangled around with ease and wondering if, maybe, a single hockey practice can give a 39-year-old asthma for life, Gaudreau was nothing but supportive of the struggling righty rocking the full cage.

Gaudreau — who would have no clue I was a hockey writer — made a point a few times during the session to skate up with a big smile and offer encouragement or a few pointers. Just as he did with all the other "kids." 

Sure, it may have been a silly promotional event, but Gaudreau's pure enjoyment of sharing the ice with a bunch of other people who loved hockey shone through.

It's why, even as a millionaire pro, he'd still play off-season shinny with his buddies back in Jersey. Why he never seemed to take the game for granted. Why the adoration and anecdotes keep flowing from all those who shared a shift with him. Even if they had no shot of keeping up.

"I just love being on the ice and skating as much as I can in the summer,” Gaudreau said that day. “A lot of people say, ‘Hey, that’s your job,’ but I love scrimmaging with my friends.”

Rest in peace, Johnny and Matthew.