Zak MacMillan

"CBJ"

Harrisburg, PA • United States • 23 Years Old • Male

Pre-Game No. 56:Columbus Blue Jackets v Toronto Maple Leafs

The Columbus Blue Jackets return on the ice tonight to take on the league’s most covered team… the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both teams are very similar. They are both young teams that have playoff aspirations. Both teams are extremely impressive offensively. Both have young up and coming groups that are going to push them elite squads. Both teams have elite goaltending from goalies that were brought up in different organizations.

This is the first time in three meetings that the teams have met each other this season. And as I usually do, I’ll cover the team’s offseason changes.
The Maple Leafs let a lot of veterans on expiring on contracts. The Maple Leafs let forwards including enforcer Raffi Torres; current Flyers defenseman T.J. Brennan; a very underrated goal scorer in Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau (NJD); Sam Carrick (CHI); goal scorer Michael Grabner (NYR); former Oiler Mark Arcobello; former WHL scorer Colin Smith; current Penguins defenseman Stuart Percy; Ben Smith, who came back to the team; and third stringer Minnesota Wild goalie Alex Stalock .

They also made four trades since they last played each other. They dealt goalie Jonathan Bernier to the Anaheim for a conditional draft pick. They also dealt Scott Harrington and a conditional fifth round draft pick in exchange for Kerby Rychel. They also added Jhonas Enroth, but traded him to the Anaheim Ducks for a 7th round draft pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Another trade they did with the Ducks was acquiring Frederik Andersen in exchange for a 2016 1st round draft round draft pick (Sam Steel) and a conditional 2017 2nd round pick in the NHL Entry Draft.

The Leafs were the 30th place team, and were able to select generational center Auston Matthews. The Arizona native was one of the top leading point scorers in the Swiss league last season, opting to get paid and play professionally to enhance his career over the OHL and USHL. They also added back Roman Polak after trading him for future assets. They also reacquired Ben Smith off the waiver wire after coming as part of the trade last season. They added other players off the waiver wire including Seth Griffith; Alexy Marchenko; and Curtis McElhinney. They signed Matt Martin away from the New York Islanders to a three year deal. They signed Nikita Zaitsev to a two year entry level deal.

Projected Lineups

Toronto Maple Leafs

Leo Komarov – Nazem Kadri – William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitchell Marner
Zach Hyman –Auston Matthews – Connor Brown
Matt Martin – Ben Smith – Josh Leivo

Morgan Rielly – Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner – Connor Carrick
Matt Hunwick – Roman Polak

Curtis McElhinney
Frederik Andersen

Scratched: Alexy Marchenko, Nikita Soshnikov

Injured: Nathan Horton, Joffrey Lupul, Stephane Robidas

Columbus Blue Jackets

Boone Jenner – Brandon Dubinsky – Cam Atkinson
Brandon Saad – Alex Wennberg – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Josh Anderson – William Karlsson – Nick Foligno
Matt Calvert – Lukas Sedlak – Sam Gagner

Zach Werenski – Seth Jones
Jack Johnson – David Savard
Ryan Murray – Markus Nutivarra

Joonas Korpisalo
Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched : Scott Harrington, Dalton Prout

Injured: Scott Hartnell, David Clarkson

Players to Watch

Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews. The Maple Leafs’ NHL All Star is second on the team in points with 46. Matthews is quite the superstar, and will be for years to come.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Danish forward is getting a chance back in the lineup, and he is a big prospect in the making.

Enjoy the games tonight…

More to come…

Fans…
Follow me on Twitter @djzjmac12161.

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