Leafs to face Rangers in Home Opener, open season vs Jets

We’re still a day away from finding out the full NHL schedule, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have joined the rest of the league in revealing the date of their home opener. Direct from the PR department, they’ll be facing the New York Rangers on October 7th.

You have to imagine a game like this is going to be multi-nationally broadcasted, getting both the Hockey Night In Canada treatment along with some NBC Sports love in the United States. The Rangers are one of their crown-jewel markets, the Leafs are on the rise, and Auston Matthews is worth his weight in gold down south these days. Speaking of Auston, his presence may explain another home opener, expected to be Toronto’s season debut:

The projected 1-2 in Calder Trophy voting tonight in Matthews and Patrik Laine will continue their manufactured rivalry at the MTS Centre. While they don’t seem to actually hate each other, they’re both fun and talented and play for fun and talented teams, so I’ll take any matchup between the two that I can get. Just, hopefully, without the blown lead that came from the last Leafs/Jets game in October.