ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland Growlers’ training camp won’t begin until about four weeks from now, but more than a few players who can reasonably expected to be with the ECHL champions Growlers in the team’s sophomore season will be hitting the ice in Traverse City, Mich., next week as part of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ entry in an annual prospects tournament.
Five of the players on the Maple Leafs’ 32-man rookie roster spent most of the 2018-19 campaign with the Growlers last season as professional rookies.
The five — forwards Matt Bradley, Giorgio Estephan, Hudson Elynuik and Ryan Moore, along with defenceman Kristians Rubins — were signed to American Hockey League contracts last year after finishing major junior careers, and all five are operating on AHL deals again.
Growlers’ head coach John Snowden will be part of the coaching staff in the rookie tourney.
Toronto’s Traverse City group includes six other players on minor-league deals, and with the Newfoundland roster expected to be largely made up of players on AHL contracts, there is a good chance that a couple or few of them will end up with the Growlers at the start of the new season.
The six are forwards Trey Bradley, Justin Brazeau, Colt Conrad and Riley Woods, defenceman Sergei Sapego and goaltender Maksim Zhukov. All will be officially rookies, but Bradley, Brazeau and Conrad saw time with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies at the end of last season.
Of most interest to Growlers fans might be two world junior goalies, both signed to entry-level NHL deals by Toronto. With Michael Garteig and Eamon McAdam, the members of the 2018-19 Newfoundland netminding tandem, both having signed elsewhere, it’s expected that at least one of American Joseph Woll or Canadian Ian Scott will be between the Growlers’ pipes to start the season.
There will be also a number of young players signed to NHL entry-level deals who will be taking part in Toronto's Traverse City gathering, including rearguards Mac Hollowell and Joseph Duszak. However, it must be noted that outside of McAdam, there was no other player who could be described as a Growler regular lin 2018-19 who was working under an NHL contract.
Finally, the Maple Leafs will have a number of free-agent invitees in Traverse City, including some who are age-eligible to turn pro this year should they eventually sign contracts instead of returning to major junior ranks as overagers. Among the members of that contingent are QMJHL defenceman Marc-Antoine Pepin and forwards James Hamblin and Josh Nelson, who are from Medicine Hat of the WHL and London of the OHL, respectively. Pepin and Hamblin attended Toronto's rookie development camp earlier this summer.
This will be the first time the Maple Leafs will take part in the eight-team tournament, which also involves prospect teams from the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.
The Leafs’ first game in Traverse City is Sept. 6, with the competition wrapping up Sept. 10, just three days before the start of Toronto’s main training camp in Paradise and St. John’s.
Twitter: @telysports
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