LGD: Hockey’s Back!… Sort of

It’s been a long (and underwhelming) summer, but the Leafs are finally playing hockey again. And what better way to start of the preseason than with the Ottawa Senators, the second best team in Ontario. The team that let the best player in Ontario, Auston Matthews, light them up in his first NHL game. He owned the Senators then, and he could probably own the Senators now, considering he’s probably already richer than Eugene Melnyk.

This season starts the potential for an exciting Battle of Ontario, so long as the Senators actually play well and earn their 44-38 record this season. While it’s only the preseason, this is a good look at the future of the rivalry. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Timothy Liljegren, all part of the future of this rivalry. I guess Colin White too. Maybe even Jonathan Dahl… I mean, Alex Burrows.

Regardless, it’ll be an entertaining game. Hundreds of fans will make the long trek from their home town to the Canadian Tire Centre for what should be an interesting game. And that’s just the Sens fans!

Lines via @markhmasters

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander

Kapanen-Mueller-Soshnikov

Martin-Moore-Fehr

Leivo-Aaltonen-Brown

Rielly-Hainsey

Dermott-Liljegren

Rosen-Carrick

Paliotta-LoVerde

Looks like Babs is giving Hyman the chance to prove that he still belongs on the top line this season. Many had Marleau slotted there, but at the very least, he’ll have to show that he can do a better job than Hyman. Meanwhile, Soshnikov and Kapanen actually get a chance in a top six role, we have a potential fourth line this year with that third line, and then we have a fourth line full of players that we don’t know where they’ll be this year.

On defense, we’re already getting our first glance at the Rielly-Hainsey pairing, so we’ll get to see what that looks like in action for the first time. We also have two potential third pairs this year, with Dermott and Liljegren playing together, and Rosen and Carrick playing together.

Not a legitimate lineup by any means, but there are a lot of little things to look out for with these lines.

Lines via @tsn_wally

Stone-Pageau-Ryan

Burrows-Suiter-Gagné

Perron-Sexton-Randall

Smith-White-Hoffman

Oduya-Ceci

Phaneuf-Chabot

Englund-Jaros

Lajoie-Batherson

The Senators have gone out in full force this game, giving us basically their NHL roster… wait, what? This isn’t their roster? I mean, they’re pretty much Stone-Pageau-Ryan and a bunch of no-names after that. Oh yeah, I guess Erik Karlsson isn’t in this lineup, so this definitely isn’t their NHL roster. Nice to see that Guy Boucher is in midseason form, as he already has Hoffman on the fourth line.

For the Leafs, Sparks is slated to start while McElhinney is the backup. With it being early in the preseason, this probably just means that Sparks will start for the first half, and McElhinney will take over for the second half, but this might be how Babs decides who will be the backup, so, especially in the case of Sparks, a good performance isn’t necessary, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

For the Sens, Craig Anderson and Daniel Taylor will be sharing the crease tonight. It hasn’t been confirmed who will be in the first half, and who will be in the second half, but I’d assume Craig Anderson will be starting.

Preseason is always about seeing how the new acquisitions and young prospects blend with the rest of the team, or at least a shell of them, especially early in the camp, when the camp roster is almost double the roster size. So, seeing Moore, Aaltonen, Hainsey, Dermott, Liljegren, and Rosen playing alongside Hyman, Matthews, Nylander, Martin, Brown, Reilly, and Carrick will give us some idea of how the season will look, whether or not they all make the team.

Also, it’ll be interesting to see the new modifications to the Canadian Tire Centre.