Toronto Maple Leafs
Team Leader
Brad Treliving cites depth and familiarity after Maple Leafs claim Cayden Primeau, Sammy Blais
Source: https://theleafsnation.com/news/bra...familiarity-toronto-maple-leafs-primeau-blais
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced their final roster on Monday, and along with the final cuts and roster decisions, the team brought in a couple of new depth pieces via the waiver wire.
Goaltender Cayden Primeau comes in the wake of the Maple Leafs releasing James Reimer from his professional tryout (PTO) and Joseph Woll remaining on a leave of absence. Meanwhile, Blais is a forward with lots of bottom-six experience who will be yet another option to push for playing time on the Maple Leafs forward corps.
General manager Brad Treliving met with the media on Tuesday morning and explained his reasoning for claiming the two players. Regarding Primeau, he said that the team wanted a depth option that would allow prospect Dennis Hildeby to continue playing while Woll is away from the team.
“With Cayden, it was obviously with Joe’s situation, we brought James in and we felt bad for James,” Treliving said. “He really didn’t have a lot of time to get up and go through his camp and get his feet under him. We like the background of Cayden, it gives us more depth. The other piece of that is, Dennis has had a really good camp, but this allows him to keep playing. So, at the end of the day, we felt that it gave us depth at the position.”
Primeau was with the Montreal Canadiens for his whole career until Monday morning. He struggled in limited appearances with Montreal last season, with a 4.70 GAA (goals-against average) and a save percentage (SV%) of .836 in 11 games. These aren’t inspiring numbers, but it will give the Leafs a veteran option who can start a few games here and there until Woll returns.
Blais, meanwhile, has familiarity with head coach Craig Berube after playing for the St. Louis Blues when they won the Stanley Cup in 2018-19, which is precisely why they brought him in, according to Treliving.
“Sammy’s had a history with Chief going back to St. Louis, he won a Cup in St. Louis,” Treliving said. “If you look back, he was a real good player in St. Louis, went to New York, went through a major injury with his knee and sort of had to rebuild himself. He’s a player that spent last year in the American league, and he was a big part of that team’s success, winning the Calder Cup. Our staff has seen him a lot over his career but specifically last year. He had a good chance in Montreal, he gives us some depth, and some history with the coach.”
Blais spent last season with the Abbotsford Canucks, the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, where he recorded 40 points in 51 regular season games and 19 points in 23 playoff games. He originally signed a one-year contract with the Canadiens but was claimed on waivers before he had the chance to play in a regular season game for them.
Circling back to the Cayden Primeau note, Treliving was also asked if there was an update on Woll’s status to which he didn’t reveal anything specific but remained optimistic.
“No updates there, we think things are progressing well, but I can’t give you a timeframe. He’s doing well.”
The Maple Leafs will open the season at home against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
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Source: https://theleafsnation.com/news/bra...familiarity-toronto-maple-leafs-primeau-blais