Is Connor Carrick on the bubble?

It seems almost unthinkable that the Leafs would subtract from their already-weakest pool of right-handed defenders, but heading into the regular season opener tomorrow night in Winnipeg, are we sure they aren’t?

Something that’s perhaps been taken for granted in all this talk about the new faces – Dermott, Borgman, and Rosen – who could have potentially rounded out the bottom pairing, is that whoever won that competition would eventually settle in playing alongside Connor Carrick. But are we positive that, at least early on, one of the Swedes hasn’t slightly edged him?

In the final pair of games of the preseason, Babcock decided to go with Rosen-Borgman as a pair in the ‘meaningful’ game against the Wings – full of actual NHL players – and Carrick was relegated to the Marlies group that finished off the exhibition schedule. Naturally, most of us assumed this was just to get a final look at Borgman and Rosen against good competition before picking which one would stay on board, the other being sent to the AHL. But after neither was cut in the move to get to 26 players yesterday, I’m left wondering if Carrick’s spot, at least as a regular, is in jeopardy as those guys make up the bottom pairing to start, Rosen playing his off side.

Obviously this is mostly speculative, and we’ll get clearer answers in the next 24 hours, but it’ll be interesting if Carrick indeed sits tomorrow. Aside from a flash or two on the powerplay, I didn’t think he had a good preseason at all. And while it would be a little surprising to see Babcock get away from an insistence on handedness, he has done it in the past, and already has Hainsey breaking that mold alongside Rielly. It’s definitely not out of the question for Carrick to get bumped.

If I were to guess, right now I’d say at least one of the Swedish rookies gets in to the opener and perhaps Marincin is waived if the Leafs want to get to seven defencemen and keep the other on board. Carrick probably will start, but his place in the lineup is far from secure night to night. Toronto could also carry eight blue-liners, but it’s been reported otherwise. Regardless, if this preseason has produced anything that could be considered a surprise, it’s that even with the departure of another right-handed depth guy like Roman Polak, Carrick might not be the roster lock we thought he was.