Leafs Announce Opening Roster, Make Cuts

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced their season opening line up today as well as a few cuts.

Burke announced, as expected, that Phil "One Nut" Kessel and Mike Van Ryn will start the season on the injured non roster players list. Toronto will begin the season with 13 forwards, 7 defenseman and two goaltenders.

Surprisingly, preseason standout Tyler Bozak was not among those included on the final roster.

Bozak, Nikolai Kulemin, Jiri Tlusty, Carl Gunnarsson and goaltender Joey MacDonald were sent to the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies. Toronto opens the season tomorrow against Canada's smallest son, the Montreal Canadiens.

The opening night roster is expected to be as follows:

Forwards:

Jason Blake, Mikhail Grabovski, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, John Mitchell, Colton Orr, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Wayne Primeau, Jay Rosehill, Viktor Stalberg, Matt Stajan, Lee Stempniak and Rickard Wallin,

Defense:

Francois Beauchemin, Garnet Exelby, Jeff Finger, Tomas Kaberle, Mike Komisarek, Luke Schenn and Ian White

Goalies:

Vesa Toskala and Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson

Montreal Canadiens Send 5 More to Hamilton

The Montreal Canadiens announced today that five more players did not meet the NHL's height requirement and were sent down to their AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Forwards Benjamin Maxwell and Tom Pyatt, defensemen Yannick Weber and Mathieu Carle and goalie Curtis Sanford will join the Bulldogs, at least for the start of the season.

Bruins Cut Sobotka?!

In a strange, surprising move the Boston Bruins have sent Vladimir Sobotka back to their AHL affiliate in Providence.

Sobotka has a very strong training camp and seemed to have survived final cuts to make the roster. He should see time with the parent club at some point this season. Perhaps this will provide further motivation for the youngster.

The Providence Bruins have released free agent Adam Pineault.

"He got caught in a tough situation,'' Murray said. "Another contracted player is coming down and the numbers don't gibe. (Pineault) did everything he could in camp. He played well."

Sabres Finalize Roster, Cut Two

Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier announced today that forward Nathan Gerbe and defenseman Mike Weber were demoted and assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates.

Regier also confirmed that forward Adam Mair is not yet ready to start the season, as he has been placed on the Injured Non-Roster list after failing a preseason physical. Once Mair passes the physical he will be added to the roster.

The cuts leave the Sabres with a 23 man roster going into Saturday's season opener with the midgets and dwarfs of the Montreal Canadiens.

Injuries to Adam Mair, Drew Stafford and Toni Lydman allowed Tim Kennedy and Tyler Myers to remain on the roster for opening day, however neither is guaranteed any playing time against Montreal.

19 year old Myers is eligible to play up to nine NHL games before the Sabres have to make the decision to keep him in the NHL or send him back to his junior team.

Zubov Pulls a Heatley, Demands Trade

Ilya Zubov, seen above helping Alfredsson off the ice after driving in a Zamboni with Dany Heatley, has demanded a trade.

Zubov was expected to make a real push to make the big club, but was demoted to the Ottawa Senators' AHL affiliate in Binghamton. Apparently extremely displeased, Zubov has demanded a trade.

"I'm not very happy about it. It's not what I want. Both me and the Ottawa team (talked) and I might get traded soon."

Buffalo Coach Ruff Makes Cut, Ponders More

With the deadline for NHL teams to set their opening day rosters set for tomorrow at 3p.m. and with 26 players still in Buffalo, Coach Lindy Ruff has some difficult decisions to make.

Earlier today Ruff announced center Cody McCormick was sent down to Buffalo's AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates.

An injury to defenseman Toni Lydman may make room for Tyler Myers, all of 19 years old, to make the roster.

“Obviously there’s the possibility that I get sent back,” Myers said. “I’ve thought about how I’d handle that if it came to that, but right now I’m going to take it day-by-day and do the best I can to stay here.”

Further complicating the decision is the fact that forwards Drew Stafford (mild concussion) and Adam Mair (off-season hip surgery) may not be ready to start the season.

“He tested well today and we’ll see where he’s at in the next couple days,” Ruff said of Stafford. “We’ll let tomorrow play out.”

Bruins Send Hamill, Marchand Back to Providence

The Boston Bruins announced that they have assigned center Zach Hamill and forward Brad Marchand to their AHL affiliate in Providence. The move leaves Boston with 22 players on their roster with three days left before the season opener.

The demotion of Hamill and Marchand most likely means that Sobotka has made the team. Could this also mean that David Krejci is close to returning? We'll find out Thursday. For now, enjoy some Krejci hightlights from last season:

Toronto Maple Leafs Cut Four

Toronto president, GM and resident cranky old man Brian Burke announced today that four players have been re-assigned.

Despite a good showing in the pre-season so far Nazem Kadri was sent back to the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. Forward Christian Hanson and defenseman Jonas Frogren were assigned to Toronto's AHL affiliate the Marlies. Defenseman Andy Rogers was released.

Senators Demoted Mike Brodeur to AHL

The Ottawa Senators have assigned goaltender Mike Brodeur to their AHL affiliate in Binghamton. Brodeur did not see much action in pre-season, allowing one goal on 10 shots in just 26 minutes of game time.

Mike Brodeur is the first cousin of some goalie named Martin Brodeur.

Bruins Demote Four Players to Providence

Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced today that Jamie Arneil, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Jeff Penner and Kevin Regan were all assigned to the Bruins AHL affiliate in Providence.

Boston still has 36 players on the roster, which needs to be trimmed down to 23 by September 30th. Coach Claude Julien has indicated there are still a few forwards he wants to evaluate and after an effort against Columbus that was like Hossa in a Stanley Cup Final, Julien will use the remaing three pre-season games to see who deserves to fill out the roster.

The Bruins play the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the Ottawa Senators on Friday and have a re-match against the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Bruins Trim 13 Players From Roster

The Boston Bruins have cut goaltenders Matt Dalton and Adam Courchaine, and forwards Jordan Knackstedt and Matt Marquardt. All four will be returned to Providence. Both Rob Kwiet and Scott Fletcher will also go to Providence as they have been released from their tryout agreements with Boston. Defenseman Alain Goulet and forward Lane MacDermid, both unsigned draft picks, have also been assigned to Providence.

Jordan Caron, Ryan Button, Michael Hutchinson and Tyler Randell have been returned to their junior clubs. Rumor has it that Randell was cut for wearing number 66, which obviously should only be worn by Lemieux.