Listen up people, this isn’t a drill. Hockey is starting again. Well, not real hockey, the completely unnecessary hockey that only serves to inflate our expectations of players who are facing a compilation of ECHLers, out of shape veterans, and disinterested stars. BUT HOCKEY!!!

Anyway, putting aside my painful disinterest and distaste for the preseason there are five things we can absolutely expect to see…

Okay, we’ve seen this before, but not on ice, in a game, against opposition. That changes tonight. Getting our first look at this is something that even a complete jackass like me can acknowledge as special and enhances the excitement we’ll have for the next seven years. It’s been a bizarre ride for me personally over the past couple of years, where the Leafs have really started doing things I’ve liked, bringing in two of my all-time favourite players in Tavares and Marleau. Liking the team I cheer for is something I don’t feel I’ve had since the mid 90s, and the excitement about Tavares in the preseason is a real thing that we should try to enjoy.

Cat has summed it up nicely in typical Cat fashion. She has ignored that Calvin Pickard is truly the best option, but generally this is what is going to happen.

The reality is that some decisions are going to be made on the goaltenders but I think we’ll only get a fraction of what the decision is based on if the preseason games. It’s going to be hard to justify a goaltender who ends the preseason with a sub .850 save percentage, but I’m sure we can draw some conclusions, like the fact that the Leafs want to see Sparks and McElhinney against the same competition tonight. Look at me calling the Senators “competition.”

It’s safe to say we’re going to keep on hearing about this, and we’re going to keep on talking about it until the contract situation is resolved. Even once it is resolved, we’re going to get an unnecessary amount of discussion about whether or not he’ll be ready for the regular season. Nylander is ready. He hasn’t forgotten how to play with Matthews, and he’s been skating and working out, just not with the team.

The biggest disappointment here is that he’s missing out on a chance to take some risk free shifts at center.

The majority of this site has already development an uncomfortable level of fondness over Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, and getting a chance to see him a Leafs uniform at some point before a likely weekend return to the OHL is fun. Seeing Sandin in a Leafs uniform is pretty cool too, especially since he has the chance to fight for a spot on the Marlies this season.

Since we’ve just wrapped up our Top Prospects series on this site, I have to say that finding out if there has been any progression in the eyes of the organization on players like Liljegren, Grundstrom, and Engvall will be pretty interesting too, but maybe we temper our expectations a bit. There aren’t a lot of spots available on the Leafs at the moment, and the “Every Game is Tryout” mentality seems to be replaced with “We’ll talk after your second Calder Cup ring”.

Rookies are fun. Watch them. Enjoy them, but don’t count on seeing them much after this week because Mike Babcock likes to run something close to a regular season lineup in the preseason for reasons I’ll never agree with.

Babcock really seems to like this guy. I guess Dubas must like him too if he decided to import him from Sweden. Now we’re going to find out what they like about him so much. Given that he’s pegged for a 4th line center role, it’s probably best to let this go and let them have their 4C, but I trust in the internet to manufacture some outrage about Par Lindholm. I admit to having some outrage canned and ready to go, because this team leaves us so little to complain about.

Some examples of my outrage consist around wanting to just roll three centers, and letting Marleau, Nylander, Hyman, Ennis, etc. occasionally see the 4C spot. I’m also prepared to argue that Ennis should be put at center and be handed the 4C role out of camp. We will also need to discuss how this will impact Josh Leivo.

It’s safe to say that everything you don’t like in camp will be Par Lindholm’s fault. Or Igor Ozhiganov’s, if you are ready to lash out because of strong Justin Holl feelings.

Hockey is back. In some form. In it’s messiest form. If I can give one piece of advice it’s to just watch it, probably with a beer in hand instead of a laptop for tracking zone exits, and just enjoy that the worst NHL preseason game is still better than the seemingly endless House Flipping show that has been on my television since mid-June. The only real thing you can expect from the preseason is to be happy that hockey is back, but left wanting more. Basically the same feeling we’ll all have soon enough with the too long regular season as well.