The Toronto Maple Leafs will have two players with NHL experience skate on their top line when they open the Traverse City Prospects Tournament on Thursday against the Dallas Stars.
Alex Steeves and Nick Robertson were on the wing alongside 2022 second-round draft pick Fraser Minten when the club took the ice for practice on Wednesday.
"He's a big boy and definitely young, I'm looking forward to playing with him," Robertson said of the 6'1" 185-pound Minten.
Robertson is trying to take a different approach to the rookie tournament this year. Last year, all eyes were on the California native to take another step in his development after he had played six regular seasons with the NHL club during the 2021 season. But injuries and performance limited him to just 10 regular season games.
This year, Robertson has added some weight. He says he was 185 pounds at one point during the summer but had to make sure he didn't sacrifice his signature speed.
"I added thickness, I've added more of a foundation and I'm happy with my weight," Robertson said. "I don't want to be too heavy or too light."
Nick Abruzzese — the other NHLer among the group of players — skated on the wing of the second line alongside Semyon Der-Arguchintsev and all 6'8" of Curtis Douglas.
"Well, I'd like to think he's going to create more time and space for myself," Abruzzese laughed. "I hope that no one is going to take too many runs at me just because I have him lined up next to me. But no, he's really smart a real solid player and I'm looking forward to that."
Abramov sitting out for conditioning related to lingering injury
When the Maple Leafs released their prospect tournament lineup on Wednesday, forward Mikhail Abramov was noticeably absent from the list.
The 21-year-old Russian forward is dealing with a lingering injury suffered toward the end of the last season, believe to be a back ailment.
"I would like to get him starting this season on the absolute right foot which is getting his body where it needs to be and adding some strength, because he was rehabbing an injury in the summer that he didn't get." Toronto Marlies GM Ryan Hardy said on Thursday. "We're going to take a very conservative approach with him and make sure that when we do assimilate him back into the group, that we'll be setting him up for the most long-term success, rather than us get excited to see him in this event."
In his first season with the Marlies, Abramov scored seven goals and had 28 points in 66 games.
Games will be streamed on the Maple Leafs app
With Leafs TV shutting down last month, the Maple Leafs' transition to digital for their content continues. All four tournament games will be streamed on the Toronto Maple Leafs app which is available on Google Android or iOS. Marlies Play-by-Play voice Todd Crocker will call the game.
The Maple Leafs' opponents will also have their own YouTube streams made available as they did last year.
Malhotra to be behind the bench as head coach
An assistant head coach with the Maple Leafs since the 2021 season, Manny Malhotra will be running the bench during the tournament games.
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