Today, the Maple Leafs have taken an interesting step in the run up to the opening of the regular season on Wednesday. They’re waiving four of the players who were vying for jobs on the Leafs. These are the losers, then. Or are they?

The following four players have been placed on waivers for the purpose of being reassigned to the Toronto Marlies (AHL): Pontus Aberg, Tyler Gaudet, Ben Harpur and Jordan Schmaltz.

Those four players will either clear or by claimed by tomorrow at noon. Remember, a claiming team must keep the player on their NHL roster, and would need to waive them again to get them in the AHL.

As expected, some of the easy decisions have been made to clear the roster of AHL-contracted players and waivers-exempt NHLers:

The following eight players have been reassigned to the Toronto Marlies and will join the Marlies’ training camp: Darren Archibald, Jeremy Bracco, Adam Brooks, Rich Clune, Hudson Elynuik, Pierre Engvall and Teemu Kivihalme.

One caution before  anyone celebrates the player they don’t like getting cut. The smart play this season, with all these extra players, is to waive the players you want to keep, and if they clear, you’re golden to call them back up. It’s a little surprising that this was done now and not a sleepy Sunday, but there’s no way the Leafs don’t want Gaudet in the minors being excellent, and Jordan Schmaltz as a legitimate call-up option. Pontus Aberg played himself out of consideration, and anyone with eyes thinks Ben Harpur needs a dedicated coach and a full year of hard minor-league work just to be considered good for the AHL.

UPDATE:

As expected, Joseph Woll has been assigned to the Toronto Marlies.

Toronto Marlies