It's hard not to like Team Acne, especially after rumors like this are floated around:

McDavid in running to captain Oilers and Team North America | Toronto Sun
"The captain of the Oilers? We’ll figure that out at training camp," said McLellan. "The captain at the World Cup? We’ll find out this week."

Why not Aaron Ekblad, though? He's also up for consideration as captain of the Panthers this season. But anyway. What do you think the Team Fake ID lines are going to look like? I keep being unfaithful to Team Czech by daydreaming about it. Here, you can play too:

Goal:
Matt Murray
Connor Hellebuyck
John Gibson
D:
Aaron Ekblad
Seth Jones
Ryan Murray
Morgan Rielly
Shayne Gostisbehere
Colton Parayko
Jacob Trouba
F:
Sean Couturier
Jack Eichel
Johnny Gaudreau
Dylan Larkin
Nathan MacKinnon
Connor McDavid
JT Miller
Sean Monahan
Brandon Saad
Jonathan Drouin
Auston Matthews
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Mark Scheifele
Think they'll have an "America Heck Yeah" line of Larkin-Eichel-Matthews? I want that, even if it means Matthews plays wing.

Leafs News

St. Louis Blues Opposition: The Toronto Maple Leafs | BleeinBlue
"Toronto has positioned itself quite well with their current offseason moves. The fans of the Leafs were extremely disappointed they were unable to land Steven Stamkos, but that may be a blessing in disguise. Stamkos still has plenty of good years in front of him, but it can’t be argued that he’s had diminishing returns his last few seasons. He has also been hit with the injury bug as well."

Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Nikita Korostelev KHL Rights Traded | Puck Prose
"Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Nikita Korostelev Curiously Saw His KHL Rights Traded on Friday to Hometown Moscow."

Toronto Maple Leafs: Expect Better Results From Kadri | Editor in Leaf ( @runTBC on twitter, the guy has a scant number of followers! )
"Truth be told, Kadri’s ceiling is higher than 20 goals and his 17 goal season last year was pinned down because of bad luck and poor shot decisions."

Maple Leafs' Frederik Andersen: Head back to Toronto for evaluation | CBS Sports
"Andersen was slated to appear in the upcoming World Cup, but that looks in doubt at this point. Andersen fell hard on his right shoulder after a Danish teammate bowled him over during an Olympic qualifying match this week."

Cochrane raises Tim Horton banner | Sudbury Star
With a cheering crowd well exceeding the Tim Horton Event Centre's 500-seat capacity, the massive banner, which used to hang at the Air Canada Centre, barely reached a few feet from the ground even when fully raised to the ceiling.

Steve Dangle got his new Leafs jersey | TLN
Here's what's different about the new sweater compared to previous years.

10 burning questions as the new season approaches | THN
Can the goaltending tandem of Frederik Andersen and Jhonas Enroth get the Toronto Maple Leafs into the playoffs?

THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING LEAFS ARTICLE TODAY AND YOU SHOULD READ IT:
Radio Report Card – Fall 2016 | Toronto Sports Media
"With the summer ratings wasteland season wrapping up and back to school about to begin TSM and I thought this weekend might be a good time to give some detailed commentary on the state of the radio lineups."Other Hockey News

Radko Gudas injured, will be evaluated on a "week to week basis" | BSH
Booooooo.

Rise of snapshot cues slapshot’s decline in NHL | The Star
Slightly bigger nets could make a big difference in NHL scoring, according to analysis of shots over the past six seasons.

NHL Network Top 50 player countdown Nos. 11-20 | NHL
Tarasenko at 20th? Hmph.

World Cup of Hockey: Tortorella torn between U.S., Jackets camps | BJ Extra
Team USA just sounds like a barrel of laughs every time I read about it.

Worst 20 Position Players By Goals Versus Threshold | K'sK
Here are the worst 20 position players by goals versus threshold in 2015/16.

From The Branches