The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced their preseason schedule for the 2018-19 NHL season.

The Leafs will have four home and homes against Atlantic division rivals in Ottawa, Buffalo, Montreal, and Detroit, for a total of eight games (though the first “home” game will take place in Lucan, ON, the winner of the Kraft Hockeyville contest.)  We might expect a split-squad game or two in there.

The preseason is a chance to get a look at some of the potential future players on the team, to enjoy a few heated training battles for depth jobs, to get to watch something like the Leafs for something less than your annual pre-tax income, and to fall wildly in love with a new player while simultaneously reminding yourself that they’re only preseason games.  For this upcoming season, the lineup is obviously in flux pending a summer full of trades and free agency, but it’ll likely be an opportunity to see Timothy Liljegren before he heads back to the AHL to star for the defending champion Toronto Marlies.

At any rate, by mid-September, we’ll all be desperate for hockey to kick up again, and we’ll cover these events with our usual enthusiasm.  Now let’s see what Kyle Dubas does.