TLN Mailbag: End-of-summer edition

Well, we’re two days away from September, and while that’s entirely depressing from one standpoint, the sports world is going to get a hell of a lot better in the coming weeks.

Before we put our foot on the gas leading up to Leafs training camp, however, there’s still some offseason garbage time left to boot around a few ideas. With that in mind, let’s get to the last of the summer mailbag questions.

I’m answering this one first because there’s nothing more fun than projecting lineups, and this one is really out there. Here goes:

Andersen’s contract would be expired four years from but the Leafs bring him back, while Woll starts to take the reigns. Dougie Hamilton hits free agency in 2021 and is scooped up. I had to pick a decent fourth-line center, and J-G Pageau is an unrestricted free agent in 2020, so why not.

They aren’t exactly “surprises” but I feel like Andreas Johnsson and Carl Grundstrom will give the coaching staff a lot to think about. Liljegren will make some noise too and add to his hype train. The biggest jump in the regular season will be Kapanen.

As for letdowns, I think a lot of people expect Andrew Nielsen and Travis Dermott to raise some eyebrows this year on the blue-line, but in reality it’ll just be Dermott who makes the jump from the Marlies. That isn’t a knock on Nielsen, it’s just his skating and defensive game isn’t nearly as far along, despite the impressive boxcar numbers. As prospects they get grouped together a lot, but they shouldn’t be.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Polak come in on a tryout. He’s been a favourite of the management and coaching staff, and since he’s recovering from that leg injury, it’s easy to see the Leafs bringing him into camp and letting him showcase himself in hopes of landing an NHL job elsewhere. Other than that, of what’s left on the UFA board, perhaps forwards like Doan or Winnik could get a look, but I don’t expect anyone to stick.

Having Chris Neil join on a PTO just to get the pictures of him in a Leafs jersey would be a nice troll play, but Toronto’s front office probably isn’t as evil as me so don’t count on that.

Since the Leafs didn’t really upgrade at backup this summer – opting instead to bring back McElhinney – their plan must be to lean heavily on Andersen once again. It’s a gamble, but it paid off in year one of his deal and he certainly earned that $5-million cap hit last season.

Only one goaltender – Talbot – started more games than Andersen’s 66 last season. I’d expect him to be right up there in the top-five again, around that 65-game mark, barring injury.

This does seem like the perfect scenario for this to happen, yes.

I’m assuming that tickets for this game won’t go on sale to the public until the typical regular season single game release. For most teams that happens in early September, so keep an eye on the Capitals/Leafs official sites, and sign up for their ticket notification email if you haven’t already. If you strike out there, try a re-sale site like StubHub. I wouldn’t worry too much about it yet for a while, as the game is so late in the season and probably won’t sell out right away – the Centennial Classic in Toronto didn’t, after all.