Leafs:

Sens:

Quick hits…

• Nikita Zaitsev was supposed to be in the Leafs practice group, according to Kristen Shelton, but he’s still away from the team. There’s no reason to look too far into this or anything, though, because him and his wife just had a kid. So this isn’t some new injury issue or anything.
• Gauthier, Marchment, Polak and Nielsen were practicing today, but will be scratched. Gauthier doesn’t appear to be healthy enough to play yet.
• Patrick Marleau is obviously the biggest draw tonight as he makes his Leafs debut. Being an older guy playing with an unfamiliar group of players for the first time, really, in his NHL career, don’t expect massive things from Marleau tonight. It’s going to take time for him to ease into the lineup and get chemistry with his new teammates. He’s playing with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov tonight. It seems likely, if the Leafs keep the Hyman-Matthews-Nylander and JVR-Bozak-Marner trios that were successful together, Kadri will be Marleau’s centre for this season.
• Kerby Rychel is another interesting player to watch today. He’s been shoved to the fourth line despite the fact his skills likely translate better to an offensive role. Still, if he’s cracking the lineup this year (which is a major uphill battle for a guy who doesn’t need waivers), he’s going to have to do so in a fourth line, grinder role.
• This lineup that Ottawa is icing is an absolute travesty. I know I said not to worry about anything because it’s the pre-season, but if the Leafs can’t hand a beating to this scrap heap of random computer generated names, then geez. That isn’t good.