Toronto Maple Leafs Rumors: A Lot of scouts in attendance
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning game played host to a significant amount of scouts in the Lightning’s 7-3 win Tuesday.
No less than 22 #NHL scouts on the list for #Leafs/Lightning tonight. 2 each from Columbus, Vegas and Pittsburgh.
— Terry Koshan (@koshtorontosun) October 25, 2016
That’s a lot of watchers for the Toronto Maple Leafs game.
Scouts are in attendance for most games, but 22 is a big number and it’s hard to imagine the Lightning doing much other than marketing Ben Bishop because of the expansion draft. Why ruin a good thing?
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For Toronto, it could mean a number of things.
The Leafs have a good stock of prospects that may be of interest to other players, and they also have veterans who might not figure into the long-term plans.
Tyler Bozak, Leo Komarov and to a lesser extent right now, James van Riemsdyk are a few names that would attract suitors. Those three are a difficult move because of the expansion draft dynamic, but certainly not impossible.
In a perfect world they were all there to watch Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak, but that’s highly unlikely.
The Leafs rumor mill is quiet other than rumors of Hampus Lindholm being shot down as well as the stagnant Cam Fowler rumors that surfaced a few weeks ago.
With how little he’s being played, Jake Gardiner’s name might begin to make its way into the trade rumor world with Mike Babcock’s apparent disdain for the Leafs defender.
In any event, there were 22 scouts from several teams in attendance at the Air Canada Centre to watch the Leafs get demolished on the scoreboard by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The good news is that the Leafs, while allowing seven goals, didn’t play an entirely poor game of hockey, so there were good things for the scouts to see.
The Leafs controlled 65% of the 5v5 shot attempts, taking possession control at the five minute mark of the first period, scored three goals and rotated their lineup for maximum exposure.
Keep an eye on future Leafs games to see which, and how many, scouts find their way in through the gates. Read into what you will, or won’t.
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