The Marlies are back!

Most of them have been off pretending to be Leafs for the month of September, but once it’s October it’ll be time to get the right jersey on.

The one with this logo on it:

The Marlies will open training camp on Monday, Oct. 3 at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence in Etobicoke. On-ice sessions will begin at 1:00 p.m. with a scrimmage at 1:45 p.m., media availability to follow.

The Roster

The official roster with more details on each player is here.

This is just the camp roster, and while there are no roster limits in the AHL, quite a few of these players will not be on the team in a few weeks.  There are several certain and likely Orlando Solar Bears getting to show their stuff to the Marlies coaches, and there are some players that are not yet under contract.  There’s even a few mysteries.

Number Name Who is this guy?
FORWARDS
18 Spencer Asuchak PTO
9 Adam Brace Solar Bear
42 Brett Bulmer Played for Iowa Wild
7 Eric Faille
36 Brett Findlay
15 TJ Foster
39 Connor Gaarder Solar Bear
19 Cason Hohmann New Marlies signing
38 John Kurtz Marlies last year
49 Daniel Maggio New Marlies signing
28 Denver Manderson Solar Bear
47 Mason Marchment New Marlies signing
57 Colin Martin Under contract to other ECHL team
10 John McInnis Solar Bear
17 Bryan Moore Solar Bear
21 Sébastien Sylvestre Solar Bear
79 Patrick Watling Solar Bear
11 Ethan Werek PTO
26 Chase Wilata New Marlies signing
DEFENCEMAN
3 Eric Baier Solar Bear
14 Chris Bradley Solar Bear
59 Willie Corrin New Marlies signing
44 Taylor Doherty Solar Bear
24 Jon Jutzi New Marlies signing
6 Matt Lashoff Played last year in AHL/DEL
20 Nick Luukko Under contract ot other ECHL team
25 James Martin Marlies/Solar Bears last year
43 Brenden Miller PTO
5 Ty Stanton New Marlies signing
12 William Wrenn Under contract ot other ECHL team
GOALTENDERS
32 Jeff Glass PTO
31 Ryan Massa Solar Bear
30 Jay Williams Solar Bear

That is 11 defenders, 19 forwards and 3 goaltenders.

The Question Marks

There are a few players who are under contract to other ECHL teams according to Elite Prospects.  It’s possible they are on try-outs to see if they can handle a promotion to the Marlies, or they might be loans to make up the numbers for a few days.

Shane Conacher hasn't been at camp yet, and he played so few minutes last year it's hard to get a feel for his level.   He’s not on this roster either, so perhaps he has an injury.

Bears or Marlies?

A question of a different kind is who is flying south for the winter.

Chase Witala and Cason Hohmann, two signings from the end of last year, got little action in the main camp and might be more Solar Bears material than Marlies.  Ethan Werek was an invite to camp and seemed always destined for this one.

The Cuts are Coming

No, not from this camp, although the Solar Bears are running their own camp, and some of these guys will fly south soon, but the cuts from the Leaf camp are also due.  By next week more familiar names should be added to this very intriguing list.

But for now, it’s impressive that they made a roster capable of playing a game without any of the players currently in Leafs’ camp.

The Schedule

The Marlies play their entire pre-season schedule in Newfoundland against the IceCaps.  The first game is  Thursday, October 6.

The Marlies return to the MasterCard Centre on Oct. 11 and 12 before moving to Ricoh Coliseum for practice on Oct. 13 and 14. The Marlies open their regular season on home ice against the Utica Comets on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1:00 p.m.

The Regular Season

Real games get underway Saturday, October 15 against the Comets at home at Ricoh.

Toronto Marlies