There were no surprises in the first round of cuts by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, as defenceman Jake Gardiner, goaltender Ben Scrivens and forward Matt Frattin still have a chance to make the team.
Centre Joe Colborne, who struggled with consistency, was sent down to the Leafs' Toronto Marlies farm team was among the 14 cuts, along with forwards Luca Caputi, Jerry D'Amigo and Mike Zigomanis and defencemen Jeff Finger, Jesse Blacker, Korbinian Holzer and goaltender Mark Owuya. The Leafs now have 29 players in training camp – 17 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders.
Zigomanis, Caputi and fellow forward Ryan Hamilton were placed on NHL waivers along with Finger. The only player likely to be claimed during the 48-hour waiver period is Caputi, 22, who was troubled by injuries last season. He had no points in seven games with the Leafs and five points in 13 games with the Marlies.
The 29 players left in camp includes injured forwards Mike Brown and Tyler Bozak but it is still a larger group than head coach Ron Wilson wanted for the Leafs' final three pre-season games. But players like Gardiner and Frattin are not making things easy for the Leaf brass.
"The players decide this and some people are making those decisions tough for us," said Leafs vice-president of hockey operations Dave Poulin. "That's good. We as an organization want the players to make that tough for us."
The Leafs play the Senators in Ottawa on Tuesday and then finish the NHL pre-season with back-to-back, home-and-home games against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday and Saturday.
Following is the complete list of cuts:
Forwards – Caputi, Zigomanis, Hamilton, Colborne, D'Amigo, Marcel Mueller, Kenny Ryan and Greg Scott.
Defence – Finger, Holzer, Blacker, Simon Gysbers, Juraj Mikus.
Goaltender – Owuya.