Toronto Maple Leafs preparing for final stages of roster selection

The Toronto Maple Leafs will start to divide the training camp roster with three preseason games left as they prepare for opening night.

It is crunch time for every NHL team with only a couple of games left in the pre-season schedule and roster decisions looming for teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Following the Leafs 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres, head coach Mike Babcock said he will be dividing the team into two separate rosters, one with mostly NHL players and the other featuring AHL bound players.

It looks like the first squad will consist mostly of players bound for the Toronto Marlies when the roster for Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens was announced.

Many should expect Par Lindholm, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson to be the fourth line so don’t read too much into them being with the AHL players. This is probably a case where the coach wants to maximize their ice time together.

One thing Babcock wants to establish over the next couple of days is the Leaf’s special teams and sort out the remaining roster spots so Friday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings could be the one where you see most of the NHL players.

More from Toronto Maple Leafs

• Maple Leafs Rumours: Half of NHL teams interested in Ilya Mikheyev
• Toronto Maple Leafs: How to address the goaltender position
• Leafs reward Timothy Liljegren with extension after breakout season
• Maple Leafs: Jack Campbell situation becoming increasingly uncertain
• Jason Spezza retires, joins Toronto Maple Leafs front office

A crucial decision still looming is the team’s third pairing with many players showing that they’re possibilities, and the other one is in net with the backup job still undecided at this point. Both Garret Sparks and Curtis McElhinney will be in net against the Canadiens and probably will split time unless one of them gets the start in one of the games against Detroit.

On defence, Justin Holl and Connor Carrick could still factor into the decision on the blueline but it looks like Calle Rosen and Igor Ozhiganov have put themselves ahead with their play in the pre-season. Babcock even had a comment about Ozhiganov making waves over players who don’t have the same limitations as him.

Then there’s Travis Dermott‘s situation will be interesting after sustaining a shoulder injury which might be a small setback for him. Fortunately for Dermott, he’s still young and can work his way back on the Marlies and be called back up when he’s ready.

Really the rosters we see over the next couple of days might not paint the full picture of what opening night is going to look like. Babcock might want to see how certain players like Holl and Carrick play with more ice time and tougher matchups and how they react to not being with the main group.

What do you think about the roster for the game against Montreal?  Is there a player who deserves more of a shot? Let us know in the comments below.