The off-season officially ends this week. Players will be reporting to training camps across the league. The Maple Leafs will fly out to Newfoundland and have their camp begin in St. John’s on Thursday. And, no, Mitch Marner still has not signed a contract. Unless he quickly puts pen to paper on a deal he is not allowed to attend the training camp.

The first NHL pre-season game is one week from today, though the Leafs first game is next Tuesday, again in St. John’s.

The rookies and prospects are still in Traverse City, Michigan. Their next game is tonight against the Red Wings at 6:00 p.m. ET. As with the games over the past few days, this one will also be streamed to watch live.

The Leafs beat the Blues 6-2 on Friday, then beat the Blackhawks 6-3 on Saturday. Sheldon Keefe’s top line of Nick Robertson, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, and Egor Korshkov has impressed.

Other News

Jake Gardiner is gone, but not forgotten. The first game between the Leafs and the Hurricanes is on Monday December 23rd (ugh, Christmas is in the middle of the week this year.)

We’ll see you then, Jake and Henry.

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Henry is excited about his new home!

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No links today, folks. Training camps are starting and the pre-season is nearly here. There’s not much other news out there.

This is literally the end of the off-season. There’s lots of big name RFA’s who still have not signed contracts beyond Marner, like Patrik Laine, Zach Werenski and Brayden Point, so we should start hearing the rumblings about their absences soon. There will no doubt be a lot of news this week. Get ready from hockey season!

From The Branches