Summer hockey is here for the Maple Leafs.
The club announced its 34-man training camp roster Sunday morning ahead of Monday’s official start of training camp for the 24-team Return To Play tournament for the Stanley Cup.
Toronto, which opens a best-of-five qualifying round Aug. 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Arena, will have all hands on deck from the postponed regular season, including players such as Auston Matthews and Frederik Andersen, who spent much of the four-month COVID-19 suspension of games in the United States. Matthews, who tested positive for the condition last month, and others coming from outside Canada either self-quarantined before or are part of the NHL bubble, arranged with the Canadian government to keep returning players within bounds of the rink and hotel during the 12-team Eastern Conference part of the tournament, in and around SBA.
As expected, the Leafs added junior draft pick sensation Nick Robertson to the roster at forward, along with the AHL Marlies’ top scorer, Kenny Agostino. On defence, prospect Teemu Kivihalme is coming, too, with rookie goalie Joseph Woll behind Andersen, Jack Campbell and Kasimir Kaskisuo.
Ilya Mikheyev, who suffered a serious wrist tendon injury in December, has returned, but winger Andreas Johnsson (knee surgery) is still out. Only 31 players will be picked for the tournament.
The rest of the roster, listed here, played at some point for the Leafs prior to the stoppage in play when the COVID-19 pandemic began raging in early March. General manager Kyle Dubas was to address the media Sunday afternoon.
FORWARDS (18)
Kenny Agostino
Adam Brooks
Kyle Clifford
Pierre Engvall
Tyler Gaudet
Frederik Gauthier
Zach Hyman
Kasperi Kapanen
Alex Kerfoot
Egor Korshkov
Denis Malgin
Mitch Marner
Auston Matthews
Ilya Mikheyev
William Nylander
Nic Petan
Nicholas Robertson
Jason Spezza
John Tavares
DEFENCE (12)
Tyson Barrie
Cody Ceci
Travis Dermott
Justin Holl
Teemu Kivilhalme
Timothy Liljegren
Martin Marincin
Jake Muzzin
Morgan Rielly
Calle Rosen
Rasmus Sandin
GOALIES (4)
Frederik Andersen
Jack Campbell
Kasimir Kaskisuo
Joseph Woll
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