Look at all those wingers: Maple Leafs Depth Chart and Pipeline List updates

We (I) slacked off a little in July, and we didn’t even manage to get Patrick Marleau onto to the depth chart! I’ve overcompensated by updating both the depth chart and the pipeline list and making some assumptions.

We know Dominic Toninato is going to test free agency beginning on August 16.  I’ve taken him off the pipeline list.  Tony Cameranesi, who was sort of still a prospect on an AHL contract is an AHL UFA right now.  The Marlies might sign him, but even if they do, he’s not really a Leafs prospect anymore, so he’s gone too.

I added rights expiry information from CapFriendly as well for the new draft picks.

I updated some information on where prospects will play this coming year.  There’s only one mystery left,  beyond how you fit all those guys on the depth chart on one NHL team, and that is where will Timothy Liljegren play?  He’s the only player in the Leafs system on an NHL contract who is potentially going to be loaned off the team.

The Leafs have no one in junior under contract, and no one else in Europe on an ELC.  This could simply be due to the still bloated roster and overfilled SPC list, which is partly a carryover from the rebuild and partly a relic of expansion draft moves.  Or it could be a new way of doing business.  Either you’re capable and ready to play at least at the AHL level or you don’t get a deal, with exceptions made only for the top round picks.

Carl Grundström wasn’t signed until they were ready to bring him over, which is a marked contrast to Andreas Johnsson who played for a year in Sweden while on an ELC.  Because Johnsson was 20 when the contract was signed, it did not slide, so it runs out after this year.

Edited to add: Well so I thought!  It would appear that Carl Grundström, who sure looked like a lock to join the Marlies, is going back on loan to Frölunda.

It’s too soon to tell if this is a change in attitude or a response to circumstances, but the result is a harder line between the depth and the prospects, and Liljegren is the only guy straddling it.  In a fit of optimism, I put him on the depth chart.

Edited to add: there was some confusion over the rights expiry on Eemeli Räsänen, and CapFriendly reviewed it:

Thanks for the tweet, we reviewed Räsänen and have changed him to expire in two years.

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 13, 2017

So now we have to consider Räsänen like an OHL prospect again, and the table is updated.

Toronto Maple Leafs Pipeline 2017

The depth chart is NHL contracted players by dominant position.  Your job is to guess where they might actually play.

Toronto Maple Leafs Depth Chart