Leafs Make Cuts. Bodie waives goodbye. Injury Prone Player Hurt.

It’s a weird day when Leafs twitter bemoans the fact that Toronto
has put an enforcer on waivers. Of course if that enforcer is Troy Bodie,
and means a greater likelihood that Colton Orr and/or Frazer McLaren will start
the season as Leafs I guess there’s some reason for outrage.

 Of course, when you
consider Troy Bodie (full preview here), it’s important to consider that
compared to guys like Ashton, Frattin, Santorelli, etc. he was never going to
be as good. If you wanted an enforcer that wins fights, he wasn’t going to be
as good an option as Frazer McLaren, or to a lesser extent Colton Orr either.

What Bodie was is a compromise. An acceptance that the Leafs
aren’t ready to divorce themselves from the antiquated notion of facepunchers
just yet, and Bodie was the guy who most of us weren’t terrified to see skate
for 8 minutes a night. Of course this is ignoring the fact that Clarkson and
Ashton would already provide some level of truculence without needing a
designated goon, but this is an organization taking baby steps.

Instead, with Bodie waived, and likely off to Marlies, the
Leafs have seized the opportunity to annoy outgoing CEO Tim Leiweke by waiving
his son-in-law. We have also seen a move that seems to cement the notion that
Carlyle and Nonis are going to be damned for who they are, and not fully conform
to Shanahan’s new direction.

Of course, Bodie could have also just had a bad camp in the
eyes of the decision makers.

A few other Leafs also were shown the door today.

Petter Granberg seemed to be the consensus favourite for
seventh defenseman all summer, but a lackluster camp has seen him fall behind
Stuart Percy and Korbinian Holzer. I don’t know how bad your camp has to be
that Korbinian Holzer becomes a better option, but here we are.

Sam Carrick, on the other hand, seemed to be doing everything
right for the Leafs. While rewarding him with a longer camp might have been
nice, it seemed he was ultimately going to end up a Marlie as Bozak, Kadri,
Holland, Santorelli seems to be the centers of choice. Hopefully he earns a
callup as a reward later on, but it’s probably best for the organization that
he gets fitted into a role on the Marlies as soon as possible.

Petri Kontiola (aka Rickard Wallin 2.0) hasn’t been much of
anything at camp and has been labeled as too slow to go up against NHL
competition. He’s also one of the few remaining players who didn’t need to
clear waivers. His departure may have just bought Carter Ashton some more time
as a Leaf.

Fredrick Gauthier and Rinat Valiev are both on their way
back to their junior clubs after missing the camp with injuries. It’s not a
surprise that Valiev would have been heading back, but Gauthier not getting a
chance to play has got to be a big disappointment for him and the organization.

We all knew the Tallinder experiment was going to come to an
end, but I feel bad for him that it came via injury and could force his
retirement.

With Booth injured, the Leafs now have 16 forwards fighting
for 13-14 opening day spots. Josh Leivo is the last of the waiver exempt
forwards left. Brandon Kozun has had a solid camp, like Leivo, but those two
could be the odd men out, though keeping Frazer McLaren and Orr would certainly
be shocking despite the fact that we’re used to them coexisting. 

The Leafs haven’t put timelines to Franson or Clarkson yet,
but given Franson and Robidas not being 100%, it seems possible the Leafs may
want to carry 8 defensemen to start the year, which could benefit Percy and
Holzer.

Just another slow news day in Leafs land.

Bibeau has had an impressive first pro camp, will benefit from some time at the Marlies camp as well. He’ll wind up back in junior shortly, but it will be interesting to gauge him against AHL competition, and of course, you’ll want to follow Jeff for updates on the Marlies.