Yesterday, in the flood of players placed on waivers, the Leafs made their final roster cuts.

Maple Leafs cut to 23 players to fit under the salary cap

The final four players waived were:

  • Kenny Agostino
  • Kevin Gravel
  • Nic Petan
  • Garrett Wilson/

Wilson, who has been injured since before camp began has not appeared in any games, practices or scrimmages, so he remains an unknown quantity. He played 50 games last year in Pittsburgh with exceptionally good shotshare results. He looks like a better than replacement level player, by a little bit, but he hasn’t shown any impact on goal scoring at all in the NHL. In the AHL, he’s a good third line winger.

Nic Petan doesn’t drive play offensively, but he’s got a history of good shots against numbers. He used to score in junior, but he’s had one good year as a pro in the AHL.

Kevin Gravel is a jack of all defensive trades, who is better at limiting shots against than driving play to the offensive zone. He has some history of very good defensive seasons, but 49 NHL games is the maximum he’s ever played.

Kenny Agostino had a very exciting-looking season last year (for a depth player) and is the only one of the four with a history of generating good shot rates for. That held up even in his sample of 63 games last year.

Matt Read is the other potential player who was sent to the Marlies yesterday. He’s joined the team on an AHL contract, but in the NHL, he’s like Wilson a little, but moreso with better defence and worse offence.

The winners of the competition for Leafs depth jobs, so far, are Dmytro Timashov, who performed well in preseason when carefully used, and Nick Shore, who did not seem to be a standout, but he does have a history of good play as an NHL centre.

All of the players who have cleared waivers can be called up for 9 NHL games or 29 days on the roster without losing their newly-acquired waiver exemption.